Correspondence with Mr. Darwin. 153 



CHAPTER XXI. 



A CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. DARWIN. 



[1860-1862.] 



AT this time he had an interesting correspondence with 

 Mr. Darwin about orchids. Mr. Darwin, in his study of 

 orchid fertilisation, encountered from the first a trouble- 

 some stumbling-block in the Bee Orchis (Ophrys apifera). 

 Of the twelve kinds which grew in the neighbourhood of 

 his Kentish home, eleven, in different ways, perfectly fitted 

 his view of the adaptation of their structures to cross- 

 fertilisation by insects. But the" Bee/' with a structure as 

 beautiful and complicated as any, alone seemed to be 

 visited by no insect, yet to form seed. Unwilling to think 

 that so highly developed a plant could be quite indepen- 

 dent of insect agency, Mr. Darwin became very anxious 

 to have specimens examined in other parts of the country 

 where it was more plentiful than at Down, and therefore, 

 he thought, more likely to attract notice from nectar-seeking 

 insects. This desire led him to consult Mr. Watson, by 

 whose advice Mr. More was applied to. 



Mr. Darwin's first letter to Mr. More is dated June 24th, 

 1860: 



DEAR SIR, I hope that you will forgive the liberty which I take in 

 writing to you and requesting a favour. Mr. H. C. Watson has given 

 me your address, and has told me that he thought that you would be 

 willing to oblige me. Will you please to read the enclosed ; and then 

 you will understand what I wish observed with respect to the bee orchis. 

 What I especially wish, from information which I have received since 

 publishing the enclosed, is that the state of the pollen-masses should be 

 noted in flowers just beginning to wither, in a district where the bee 

 orchis is extremely common. I have been assured that in part of the 

 Isle of Wight, viz. Freshwater Gate, numbers occur, almost crowded 

 together. Whether anything of this kind occurs in your vicinity I 

 know not ; but if in your power, I should be infinitely obliged for any 

 information. As I am writing I will venture to mention another wish 



