222 DARWIN'S LETTERS TO R. TRIMEN 



3. 



May l 23rd [1863.] DOWN. 



BROMLEY. 



KENT. S.E. 

 MY DEAR SIR 



I have delayed thanking you for your note and 

 photograph, as I have no photograph by me of myself. 

 I have never had a proper " carte " taken ; but I en- 

 close a photograph made of me by my son, which I 

 daresay will do as well. 



Your accounts of the Disa and Herschdia are excellent, 

 and your drawings first-rate. I felt so sorry that such 

 excellent work sh'd remain locked up for an indefinite 

 period in my portfolio, that you have made me break 

 a solemn vow, and I have drawn up from your 

 notes (and selected 4 figures for woodcuts) an account 

 for Linnean Soc. I have enlarged a little and explained 

 and introduced a few remarks. I hope the Soc y will 

 publish the paper, and if so I will send you spare copies. 

 The title is " On the Fertilisation of Disa grandiflora 

 by Roland Trimen Esq r of the Colon. Off. C. Town : 

 drawn up from notes and drawings sent to C. Darwin 

 Esq r ." 2 I hope that you will approve of this, and not 

 object to anything in the little paper. I am very sorry 

 to hear so poor an account of your health and that you 

 have so little time to spare for the exercise of your 



1 The month is indistinctly written and looks more like ' July ' 

 than 'May'. Mr. Trimen had, however, noted that he received 

 the letter at the Cape on July 20, so that this latter month can- 

 not have been intended. Confirmation of the reading as ' May ' is 

 afforded by the presence of an envelope (two only are preserved) 

 with the post-mark ' BROMLEY, KENT. MY 24. 63 \ It also 

 bears post-marks of ' LONDON. MY 25 ' and ' DEVONPORT. MY 

 26 '. It is addressed, ' Roland Trimen, Esq., Colonial Office, Cape 

 Town, Cape of Good Hope.' 



2 The paper was published in Journ. P/ioc. Linn. Soc. Bot., vii 

 (1863), 144. 



