The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

RECORD: Darwin, C. R. [1861-1862]. Draft of Orchids, fair copy, chap. III, folio 179. Christies-21034Lot54. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of William Huxley Darwin.

From the 2022 auction description: "1 1/2 pages, 327 x 201mm (verso text cancelled in pencil by Charles Darwin, water staining affecting the bottom two inches of the leaf though not affecting legibility). Provenance: Henrietta Litchfield (1843-1927), Darwin's daughter; a letter dated 31 July [18]92 identifies her father's hand and asks to be remembered to Monsieur Fournier (also referencing the following lot). A draft leaf for Darwin's 1862 'Orchid book', showing variation from the published text; presented to the recipient by Darwin's daughter Henrietta Litchfield. The text on the recto in the hand of an amanuensis for pp. 114-115 of On the various contrivances…, opening '…the pollinia had been removed by insects' and closing 'In the rostellum being supported…' with three interlinear annotations in Darwin's hand (line 8: '*a'; line 9: 'like that in the Ophreæ; and'; and line 11: 'likewise as in the Ophreæ'). The verso with 5 lines in Darwin's hand: 'in which the nucleus projects from the testa in the ovules of a lately expanded flower shows the affinity of Goodyera to Epipactis. With respect to this structure in Epipactis see R. Brown's remarks in Linnean Transactions vol. 16 p.703'." Sold for £10,080 in 12.2022. Litchfield's letter is in Darwin Online as Christies-21034Lot54[.2] and the photograph she sent in Christies-21034Lot55.
The letter was transcribed in the Heritage Book Shop auction catalogue: "Dear Sir, I have the pleasure of sending you a photograph and a small pices of M.S.S. Much of this is in the handwriting of the copyist, but there is little piece at the back in my father's handwriting. He has scored the ? with pencil, but that can be rubbed out. Believe me, yours sincerely, H.E. Litchfield. Please give my kind remembrances to Monsieur Fournier when you see him." Thanks to Malcolm Kottler.

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179.

Chapter III

pollinia had been removed by insects, and the fork-shaped margins of the rostellum were partially withered.)

(Goodyera is an interesting connecting link between several very disctint forms. In no other Orchid of this divisions of the Neotteæ have I seen so near an approach to the formation of a true caudicle,* like that in the Ophreæ; and it is curious that in this genus alone (as far as I have seen) the pollen-grains cohere in large packets, likewise in the Ophreæ. If the nascent caudicles had been attached to the lower ends of the pollinia, and they are attached a little beneath the apex, the pollinia would have been almost identical with those of a true Orchis. In the rostellum being

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[in Darwin's hand:]

in which the nucleus projects from the testa in the ovules of a lately expanded flowers shows the affinity of Goodyera to Epipectus. With respect to this structure in Epipectus see R. Brown's remark in Linnean Transactions vol. 16. p. 703.

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