CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 487 



subject ? I hate publishing what is old ; but I shall hardly 

 regret my work if it is old, as it has much amused me. . . . 



C. Darwin to Asa Gray. 



May 28, 1864. 



.... An Irish nobleman on his death-bed declared that 

 he could conscientiously say that he had never throughout 

 life denied himself any pleasure ; and I can conscientiously 

 say that I have never scrupled to trouble you ; so here goes. 

 Have you travelled South, and can you tell me whether 

 the trees, which Bignonia capreolata climbs, are covered with 

 moss or filamentous lichen or Tillandsia ?* I ask because its 

 tendrils abhor a simple stick, do not much relish rough bark, 

 but delight in wool or moss. They adhere in a curious man- 

 ner by making little disks, like the Ampelopsis. . . . By the 

 way, I will enclose some specimens, and if you think it worth 

 while, you can put them under the simple microscope. It is 

 remarkable how specially adapted some tendrils are ; those 

 of Eccremocarpus scaber do not like a stick, will have nothing 

 to say to wool ; but give them a bundle of culms of grass, or 

 a bundle of bristles and they seize them well. 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Down, June 10 [1864]. 



... I have now read two German books, and all I be- 

 lieve that has been written on climbers, and it has stirred me 

 up to find that I have a good deal of new matter. It is 

 strange, but I really think no one has explained simple twin- 

 ing plants. These books have stirred me up, and made me 

 wish for plants specified in them. I shall be very glad of 

 those you mention. I have written to Veitch for young 

 Nepenthes and Vanilla (which I believe will turn out a grand 



* He subsequently learned from Dr. Gray that Polypodium incamim 

 abounds on the trees in the districts where this species of Bignonia grows 

 See ' Climbing Plants,' p. 103. 



