!868.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 45! 



whether they retained the same character ; but he evidently 

 thought the request as foolish as if I had asked him to mark 

 one of his cows with a ribbon, to see if it would turn next 

 spring into a horse. Now will you be so kind as to tie a string 

 round the stem of a half-a-dozen Spider-orchids, and when 

 you leave Mentone dig them up, and I would try and culti- 

 vate them and see if they kept constant ; but I should require 

 to know in what sort of soil and situations they grow. It 

 would be indispensable to mark the plant so that there could 

 be no mistake about the individual. It is also just possible 

 that the same plant would throw up, at different seasons dif- 

 ferent flower- scapes, and the marked plants would serve as 



evidence. 



With many thanks, my dear sir, 



Yours sincerely, 



CH. DARWIN. 



P.S. I send by this post my paper on climbing plants, 

 parts of which you might like to read. 



[Sir Thomas Farrer and Dr. W. Ogle were also guided and 

 encouraged by my father in their observations. The follow- 

 ing refers to a paper by Sir Thomas Farrer, in the ' Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History,' 1868, on the fertilisation 

 of the Scarlet Runner :] 



C. Darwin to T. H. Farrer. 



Down, Sept. 15, 1868. 



MY DEAR MR. FARRER, I grieve to say that the main 

 features. of your case are known. I am the sinner and de- 

 scribed them some ten years ago. But I overlooked many 

 details, as the appendage to the single stamen, and several 

 other points. I send my notes, but I must beg for their re- 

 turn, as I have no other copy. I quite agree, the facts are 

 most striking, especially as you put them. Are you sure that 

 the Hive-bee is the cutter ? it is against my experience. If 

 sure, make the point more prominent, or if not sure, erase it. 

 I do not think the subject is quite new enough for the Lin- 



