﻿Roland 
  Trimen. 
  

  

  xxm 
  

  

  indefinite 
  period 
  in 
  my 
  portfolio, 
  that 
  you 
  have 
  made 
  me 
  break 
  a 
  solemn 
  vow, 
  

   and 
  I 
  have 
  drawn 
  up 
  from 
  your 
  notes 
  (and 
  selected 
  four 
  figures 
  for 
  woodcuts) 
  

   an 
  account 
  for 
  Linnean 
  Society. 
  I 
  have 
  enlarged 
  a 
  little 
  and 
  explained 
  and 
  

   introduced 
  a 
  few 
  remarks. 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  The 
  title 
  is 
  ' 
  On 
  the 
  Fertilisation 
  of 
  Disa 
  

   grandiflora, 
  by 
  Eoland 
  Trimen, 
  Esq., 
  of 
  the 
  Colon. 
  Off., 
  C. 
  Town 
  : 
  drawn 
  up 
  

   from 
  notes 
  and 
  drawings 
  sent 
  to 
  C. 
  Darwin, 
  Esq.' 
  I 
  hope 
  that 
  you 
  will 
  

   approve 
  of 
  this, 
  and 
  not 
  object 
  to 
  anything 
  in 
  the 
  little 
  paper."* 
  

  

  The 
  importance 
  of 
  this 
  correspondence, 
  beginning 
  when 
  Trimen 
  was 
  not 
  

   much 
  over 
  twenty-two, 
  and 
  continued 
  for 
  nearly 
  ten 
  years, 
  has 
  already 
  been 
  

   emphasised. 
  His 
  whole 
  outlook 
  upon 
  nature 
  was 
  influenced 
  not 
  so 
  much 
  by 
  

   the 
  facts 
  as 
  by 
  the 
  light 
  in 
  which 
  they 
  were 
  approached. 
  And 
  yet 
  the 
  facts 
  

   were 
  important 
  and 
  varied, 
  ranging 
  from 
  the 
  Cape 
  orchids, 
  insect 
  and 
  bird 
  

   visitors 
  to 
  various 
  flowers, 
  and 
  heterostyled 
  flowers, 
  through 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  

   subjects 
  treated 
  in 
  " 
  The 
  Descent 
  of 
  Man 
  and 
  Selection 
  in 
  Eelation 
  to 
  Sex," 
  

   to 
  the 
  geographical 
  distribution 
  of 
  beetles. 
  

  

  The 
  Darwin 
  Medal 
  was 
  awarded 
  to 
  Trimen 
  partly 
  in 
  consideration 
  of 
  his 
  

   work 
  in 
  the 
  establishment 
  and 
  illustration 
  of 
  the 
  theory 
  of 
  Mimicry, 
  and 
  

   partly 
  because 
  of 
  the 
  assistance 
  he 
  had 
  rendered 
  to 
  Darwin 
  by 
  investigating 
  

   "the 
  Cape 
  orchids. 
  When 
  the 
  award 
  was 
  made 
  known 
  he 
  wrote 
  to 
  a 
  friend 
  : 
  — 
  

  

  " 
  Nothing 
  has 
  given 
  me 
  such 
  pleasure 
  since 
  my 
  election 
  to 
  E.S. 
  in 
  1883. 
  

   . 
  . 
  . 
  On 
  October 
  29 
  I 
  completed 
  my 
  70th 
  year, 
  and 
  was 
  feeling 
  somewhat 
  

   old 
  and 
  depressed 
  ; 
  but 
  this 
  really 
  noble 
  gift 
  comes 
  like 
  a 
  birthday 
  one, 
  and 
  

   is 
  quite 
  rejuvenating 
  ! 
  " 
  

  

  And 
  two 
  years 
  later 
  he 
  wrote 
  : 
  " 
  At 
  this 
  time 
  of 
  year 
  I 
  think 
  and 
  shall 
  

   always 
  think 
  of 
  the 
  Darwin 
  Medal 
  award." 
  A 
  special 
  resolution 
  of 
  congratu- 
  

   lation 
  was 
  unanimously 
  passed 
  by 
  the 
  Entomological 
  Society, 
  and 
  naturalists 
  

   generally 
  would 
  agree 
  with 
  the 
  opinion 
  expressed 
  by 
  Sir 
  William 
  Thiselton- 
  

   Dyer, 
  in 
  a 
  letter 
  to 
  the 
  present 
  writer, 
  that 
  the 
  award 
  was 
  " 
  essentially 
  typical 
  

   of 
  the 
  original 
  idea, 
  i.e., 
  thoroughly 
  Darwinian, 
  and 
  such 
  as 
  would 
  have 
  greatly 
  

   pleased 
  Darwin 
  himself." 
  

  

  The 
  world 
  has 
  now 
  lost 
  the 
  last 
  of 
  the 
  six 
  great 
  naturalists 
  who 
  laid 
  the 
  

   foundations 
  of 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  insect 
  Mimicry 
  — 
  Charles 
  Darwin, 
  H. 
  W. 
  Bates, 
  

   Fritz 
  Muller, 
  A. 
  E. 
  Wallace, 
  Eaphael 
  Meldola, 
  Eoland 
  Trimen. 
  

  

  It 
  was 
  in 
  this 
  subject 
  that 
  Trimen's 
  greatest 
  scientific 
  discovery 
  was 
  made 
  

   — 
  the 
  unravelling 
  of 
  the 
  tangled 
  relationships 
  of 
  Papilio 
  dardanus 
  or 
  merope, 
  

   as 
  it 
  was 
  then 
  called, 
  and 
  the 
  interpretation 
  of 
  the 
  widely 
  different 
  female 
  

   forms 
  on 
  the 
  theory 
  of 
  Mimicry. 
  The 
  discovery, 
  indirectly 
  due 
  to 
  Darwin, 
  

   directly 
  to 
  Bates 
  and 
  Wallace, 
  was 
  at 
  first 
  received 
  with 
  indignation 
  and 
  

   ridicule, 
  but 
  Trimen 
  lived 
  to 
  see 
  all 
  the 
  forms 
  he 
  disentangled, 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  

   others 
  then 
  unknown, 
  bred 
  from 
  the 
  eggs 
  laid 
  by 
  a 
  single 
  female, 
  and 
  to 
  

  

  * 
  ' 
  Journ. 
  Proc. 
  Linn. 
  Soc. 
  Bot.,' 
  vol. 
  7, 
  p. 
  144 
  (1863). 
  This 
  and 
  Trimen's 
  further 
  

   investigations 
  on 
  the 
  Cape 
  orchids 
  are 
  fully 
  recognised 
  in 
  the 
  second 
  edition 
  (1877) 
  of 
  

   Darwin's 
  book. 
  

  

  