108 GEOEGE JOHN EOMANES i88i 



All the cats ^ I have hitherto let out of their re- 

 spective bags have shown themselves exceedingly 

 stupid, not one having found her way back. 



Very sincerely and most respectfully yours, 



GrEO. J. EoMANES. 



From C. Darwin, Esq., to G. J. Hovianes. 



Down, Beckenham, Kent : March 26, 1881. 



You are very plucky about Pangenesis, and I 

 much wish that you could have any success. I do 

 not understand your scheme. Do you intend to 

 operate on an ovarium with a single ovule, and to 

 bisect it after being fertilised ? I should fear that 

 this was quite hopeless. If you intend to operate on 

 ovaria with many seeds, whether before or after 

 fertilisation, I do not see how you could possibly 

 distinguish any effect from the union of the two 

 ovaria. Any operation before fertilisation would, I 

 presume, quite prevent the act ; for very few flowers 

 can be fertilised if the stem is cut and placed in 

 water. Gartner, however, says, that some Liliacese 

 can be fertilised under these circumstances. 



If Hooker is correct, he found that cutting oS or 

 making a hole into the summit of the ovarium and 

 then inserting pollen caused the fertilisation of the 

 ovules. This has always stretched my belief to the 

 cracking point. I think he has published a notice 

 on this experiment, but forget where, and I think it 



' Mr. Komanes used to describe with much amusement tlie ludicrous 

 nature of the experiment as seen by passers-by. He drove in a cab well 

 into the country, released the cats, and mounted the roof of the cab in 

 order to get a good view of the cats speeding away in different directions. 



