LITERARY WORK IN DEVONSHIRE. 299 



C. Darwin to P. H. Gosse. 



" Down, June 2, 1863. 

 "My dear Sir, 



" It would give me real pleasure to resolve your 

 " doubts, but I cannot. I can give only suspicions and 

 " my grounds for them. I should think the non-viscidity 

 " of the stigmatic hollow was due to the plant not living 

 " under its natural conditions. Please see what I have 

 " said on Acropera. An excellent observer, Mr. J. Scott, 

 " of the Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, finds all that I 

 "say accurate, but nothing daunted, he with the knife 

 " enlarged the orifice, and forced in pollen-masses ; or 

 " he simply stuck them into the contracted orifice 

 " without coming into contact with the stigmatic surface, 

 "which is hardly at all viscid; when, lo and behold, 

 "pollen tubes were emitted and fine seed capsules 

 " obtained. This was effected with Acropera Loddigesii ; 

 " but I have no doubt that I have blundered badly about 

 "A. luteola. I mention all this because, as Mr. Scott 

 " remarks, as the plant is in our hot-houses, it is quite 

 " incredible it ever could be fertilized in its native land. 

 " The whole case is an utter enigma to me. Probably 

 " you are aware that there are cases (and it is one of the 

 "oddest facts in physiology) of plants which under 

 "culture have their sexual functions in so strange a 

 " condition, that though their pollen and ovules are 

 " in a sound state and can fertilize and be fertilized 

 " by distinct but allied species, they cannot fertilize 

 "themselves. Now, Mr. Scott has found this the case 

 "with certain orchids, which again shows sexual dis- 

 turbance. He had read a paper at the Botanical 

 " Society of Edinburgh, and I dare say an abstract which 

 " I have seen will appear in the Gardener's Chronicle ; but 

 " blunders have crept in in copying, and parts are barely 



