RECORD: Darwin, C. R. n.d. Have looked at 1/2 dozen groups of fern in the big wood. CUL-DAR68.27. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 4.2023. 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 volume CUL-DAR68 contains notes on 'bloom'. Francis Darwin explained: "His researches into the meaning of the 'bloom,' or waxy coating found on many leaves, was one of those inquiries which remained unfinished at the time of his death. He amassed a quantity of notes on the subject". LL3: 339. See an Introduction to these folders by Christine Chua & John van Wyhe.
[27]
P. S. 2° 3° P.m.
Have looked at 1/2 dozen groups of fern in the big wood all with myrmica & one with a smaller & distinct sp. of Elater to what I saw this morning.
Near nest of Formica rufa, where whole ground covered with ants & where I shd have though no other insect cd have existed, myrmica on the fern; but I saw 2 of F. rufa rambling about plants.
I looked at a good many oldish plants no secretion & no ants. Excretion during early & rapid growth →
[27v]
& accompanying chemical changes, & (as I have found with nectar stipules) during very hot days, when no doubt much chemical changes.— It wd be good to look to the fern on a very hot day, but the plant ought to have been marked as not secreting during previous cold days. C. D
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 11 July, 2023