1 843.] GALAPAGOS FLORA. 383 



American and what European, and how great the differences 

 of the species are, when the genera are European, for the 

 sake of the ignoramuses. 



I hope Henslow will send you my Galapagos plants (about 

 which Humboldt even expressed to me considerable curiosity) 

 I took much pains in collecting all I could. A Flora of 

 this archipelago would, I suspect, offer a nearly parallel case 

 to that of St. Helena, which has so long excited interest. 

 Pray excuse this long rambling note, and believe me, my dear 

 sir, yours very sincerely, C. DARWIN. 



Will you be so good as to present my respectful compli- 

 ments to Sir W. Hooker. 



[Referring to Sir J. D. Hooker's work on the Galapagos 

 Flora, my father wrote in 1846 : 



"I cannot telKyou how delighted and astonished I am at 

 the results of your examination ; how wonderfully they sup- 

 port my assertion on the differences in the animals of the 

 different islands, about which I have always been fearful," 



Again he wrote (1849) : 



" I received a few weeks ago your Galapagos papers,* and 

 I have read them since being here. I really cannot express 

 too strongly my admiration of the geographical discussion : 

 to my judgment it is a perfect model of what such a paper 

 should be ; it took me four days to read and think over. 

 How interesting the Flora of the Sandwich Islands appears 

 to be, how I wish there were materials for you to treat its 

 flora as you have done the Galapagos. In the Systematic 

 paper I was rather disappointed in not finding general remarks 

 on affinities, structures, &C M such as you often give in con- 

 versation, and such as De Candolle and St. Hilaire introduced 



* These papers include the results of Sir J. D. Hooker's examination 

 of my father's Galapagos plants, and were published by the Linnean 

 Society in 1849. 



