The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

RECORD: Darwin, C. R. [1874].12.26. U. montana. CUL-DAR59.1.136. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 10.2022. RN1

NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volumes CUL-DAR 54-61 contain material for Darwin's book Insectivorous plants (1875).

Utricularia is a genus of carnivorous plants known as bladderworts. These notes are for Darwin, C. R. 1875. Insectivorous plants. London: John Murray. (F1217)

"The social breadth of the network that Darwin drew on in his work on insectivorous plants was remarkable. The aristocratic horticulturist Dorothy Nevill hugely admired Darwin and was always eager to help by sending specimens from her well-stocked garden. ...[She] supplied Darwin with a specimen of Utricularia montana to work on. At first, Darwin mistook the empty stem tubers for bladders; when he found that the real bladders, which were very small and transparent and on the roots, captured prey, he exclaimed: 'I have hardly ever enjoyed a day more in my life than this day's work' (letter to D. F. Nevill, 18 September [1874]). Francis's new wife, Amy, drew the plant (letter to Francis Darwin, [17 September 1874])…Utricularia montana is an epiphytic species of bladderwort, native to the Antilles and northern South America. [It] is a synonym of U. alpina." Correspondence vol. 22, pp. xxviii, 447.

[136]

Dec 26

U. montana

[figure] ab = transverse diameter cd — longitudinal

(I) ab = 64° Hartnack No 4 tube out Mière E.P No 2

cd = 75° —"— —"— —"—

(II) ab = 75° = II .03 inch transverse = 3 to 4/100

cd = 98° ~~.04~~ .0392 longitudinal = ab 1/25 of an inch

(III) ab = ~~108°~~ 105° III .042 transverse

cd = 120° .048 longitudinal .05/100

(IV) ab = 90° IV .036 transverse

cd = 110° .044 longitudinal or = 1/2500 inch

No I was a small sized one so I neglect it

75 Oz transparent & colourless to look like little points, but are really in both diameter, as from 3 to 4/100 of an inch

[Insectivorous plants, p. 433, fig. 27.]

[136v]

(U. Montana)

[calculations not transcribed]

Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)