510 LETTERS TO DARWIN AND OTHERS. [1863, 



fashion, and send me your fresh and stimulating let- 

 ters, whenever you are in the mood of it. I am now 

 in my vacation, and already, having idled and dawdled 

 a week or two, I am as well and hearty as possible, 

 and in the best of spirits. We should leave home 

 this week for three weeks' run in the country, but the 

 sickness of my wife's nephew, Lieutenant Jackson of 

 Massachusetts Cavalry, will keep us awhile, as, though 

 not alarming, it might take a bad turn, and so I may 

 not be in the country for a week or two yet. We 

 shall see. . . . 



I have strong and fresh Drosera rotundifolia, and 

 it will now turn in its bristles and stick the viscid 

 gland fast to a fly, binding him fast on all sides with 

 liliputian cords. But it is awfuUy slow about it, — 

 say three or four hours, and the next day the leaf 

 sometimes becomes involute and folds over or curves 

 around the insect ; but what good ? If the fly is not 

 stuck fast in alighting, no movement takes place to 

 hold him tiU he has got away if he ever could. How- 

 ever, it is an indication of what is so effectually done 

 in Dionsea. 



Rotary movement of end of tendril-bearing stems 

 is common, is it not, and well-known ? 



Any notes you will give me to print in " Silliman's 

 Journal," I shall always delight in. 



I have been reading Owen's Aye-aye paper. Well, 

 this is rich and cool ! Did I not tell you in the " At- 

 lantic," long ago, that Owen had a transmutation 

 theory of his own ! It is your Hamlet, with the part 

 of Hamlet left out ! But as you say now, you don't 

 so much insist on natural selection, if you can only 

 have derivation of species. And Owen goes in for 

 derivation on the largest scale. You may as well 

 lovingly embrace ! Oh, it is rare fun ! . . . 



