RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1969. [Unrecorded letter on bees in Origin of species, 1862?]. Sotheby & Co. Catalogue of valuable printed books, autograph letters and historical documents. 3-4 March, 1969. London.

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed and edited by John van Wyhe 11.2023. RN1

NOTE: See record in the Freeman Bibliographical Database, enter its Identifier here.

This letter may have been written the day after two similar letters in September 1862. The following comments by the editors of the Correspondence set this letter in context: "See letter to John Lubbock, [3 September 1862], and letter to W. E. Darwin, [2-3 September 1862] and n. 5. In Origin, pp. 94–5, CD stated that hive-bees were unable to suck the nectar out of the flowers of the common red clover, which he claimed were 'visited by humble-bees alone' (see also Origin, p. 73). However, on the basis of information provided by Charles Hardy (see Correspondence vol. 8, letter from Charles Hardy, 23 July 1860), CD added the following statement to the third edition (p. 100): 'I have been informed, that when the red clover has been mown, the flowers of the second crop are somewhat smaller, and that these are abundantly visited by hive-bees.' In the fourth edition (p. 107), CD expressed some doubt about the accuracy of this statement, noting: That this nectar is much liked by the hive-bee is certain; for I have repeatedly seen, but only in the autumn, many hive-bees sucking the flowers through holes in the base of the tube which had been bitten by humble-bees."
"At the end of August 1862, during his stay with William in Southampton, CD noted that whereas some of the bees in a field of red clover sucked nectar at the mouths of the flowers, others did so at the bases of the flowers, through holes bitten in the corollas. CD speculated that there might be two types of bees, with those that bit holes in the corollas possibly having shorter probosces than the others, or possibly working with the others according to a 'division of labour principle' (DAR 49: 149); on 31 August, he gathered two specimens of each type, but apparently did not examine them until the evening of 3 September (see following letter, letter to Asa Gray, [3-4 September [1862], and letter to John Lubbock, [3 September 1862])." Correspondence vol. 10.

The printed transcription has "hill bees" which has here been changed to hive bees.

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

File last updated 22 November, 2023