266 FERTILISATION [l86l. 



He originally intended to publish his notes on Orchids 

 as a paper in the Linnean Society's Journal, but it soon 

 became evident that a separate volume would be a more 

 suitable form of publication. In a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker, 

 Sept. 24, 1 86 1, he writes : 



" I have been acting, I fear that you will think, like a goose ; 

 and perhaps in truth I have. When I finished a few days 

 ago my Orchis paper, which turns out 140 folio pages ! ! and 

 thought of the expense of woodcuts, I said to myself, I will 

 offer the Linnean Society to withdraw it, and publish it in a 

 pamphlet. It then flashed on me that perhaps Murray would 

 publish it, so I gave him a cautious description, and offered 

 to share risks and profits. This morning he writes that he 

 will publish and take all risks, and share profits and pay for 

 all illustrations. It is a risk, and heaven knows whether it 

 will not be a dead failure, but I have not deceived Murray, 

 and [have] told him that it would interest those alone who 

 cared much for natural history. I hope I do not exaggerate 

 the curiosity of the many special contrivances." 



He wrote the two following letters to Mr. Murray about 

 the publication of the book :] 



Down, Sept. 21 [1861]. 



MY DEAR SIR, Will you have the kindness to give me 

 your opinion, which I shall implicitly follow. I have just 

 finished a very long paper intended for Linnean Society 

 (the title is enclosed), and yesterday for the first time it 

 occurred to me that possibly it might be worth publishing 

 separately, which would save me trouble and delay. The 

 facts are new, and have been collected during twenty years 

 and strike me as curious. Like a Bridgewater treatise, the 

 chief object is to show the perfection of the many contrivances 

 in Orchids. The subject of propagation is interesting to 

 most people, and is treated in my paper so that any woman 

 could read it. Parts are dry and purely scientific ; but I 



