More Letters of Charles Darwin, vol 2 | Page 4

the
Island and its Whale and Sea Fisheries." Edited by W.B. Clarke:
London, 1850.)
LETTER 379. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, March 17th, 1867.
It is a long time since I have written, but I cannot boast that I have
refrained from charity towards you, but from having lots of work...You
ask what I have been doing. Nothing but blackening proofs with
corrections. I do not believe any man in England naturally writes so
vile a style as I do...
In your paper on "Insular Floras" (page 9) there is what I must think an

error, which I before pointed out to you: viz., you say that the plants
which are wholly distinct from those of nearest continent are often very
common instead of very rare. (379/1. "Insular Floras," pamphlet
reprinted from the "Gardeners' Chronicle," page 9: "As a general rule
the species of the mother continent are proportionally the most
abundant, and cover the greatest surface of the islands. The peculiar
species are rarer, the peculiar genera of continental affinity are rarer
still; whilst the plants having no affinity with those of the mother
continent are often very common." In a letter of March 20th, 1867, Sir
Joseph explains that in the case of the Atlantic islands it is the "peculiar
genera of EUROPEAN AFFINITY that are so rare," while Clethra,
Dracaena and the Laurels, which have no European affinity, are
common.) Etty (379/2. Mr. Darwin's daughter, now Mrs. Litchfield.),
who has read your paper with great interest, was confounded by this
sentence. By the way, I have stumbled on two old notes: one, that
twenty-two species of European birds occasionally arrive as chance
wanderers to the Azores; and, secondly, that trunks of American trees
have been known to be washed on the shores of the Canary Islands by
the Gulf-stream, which returns southward from the Azores. What poor
papers those of A. Murray are in "Gardeners' Chronicle." What
conclusions he draws from a single Carabus (379/3. "Dr. Hooker on
Insular Floras" ("Gardeners' Chronicle," 1867, pages 152, 181). The
reference to the Carabidous beetle (Aplothorax) is at page 181.), and
that a widely ranging genus! He seems to me conceited; you and I are
fair game geologically, but he refers to Lyell, as if his opinion on a
geological point was worth no more than his own. I have just bought,
but not read a sentence of, Murray's big book (379/4. "Geographical
Distribution of Mammals," 1866.), second-hand, for 30s., new, so I do
not envy the publishers. It is clear to me that the man cannot reason. I
have had a very nice letter from Scott at Calcutta (379/5. See Letter
150.): he has been making some good observations on the
acclimatisation of seeds from plants of same species, grown in different
countries, and likewise on how far European plants will stand the
climate of Calcutta. He says he is astonished how well some flourish,
and he maintains, if the land were unoccupied, several could easily
cross, spreading by seed, the Tropics from north to south, so he knows
how to please me; but I have told him to be cautious, else he will have

dragons down on him...
As the Azores are only about two-and-a-half times more distant from
America (in the same latitude) than from Europe, on the occasional
migration view (especially as oceanic currents come directly from West
Indies and Florida, and heavy gales of wind blow from the same
direction), a large percentage of the flora ought to be American; as it is,
we have only the Sanicula, and at present we have no explanation of
this apparent anomaly, or only a feeble indication of an explanation in
the birds of the Azores being all European.
LETTER 380. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, March 21st [1867].
Many thanks for your pleasant and very amusing letter. You have been
treated shamefully by Etty and me, but now that I know the facts, the
sentence seems to me quite clear. Nevertheless, as we have both
blundered, it would be well to modify the sentence something as
follows: "whilst, on the other hand, the plants which are related to those
of distant continents, but have no affinity with those of the mother
continent, are often very common." I forget whether you explain this
circumstance, but it seems to me very mysterious (380/1. Sir Joseph
Hooker wrote (March 23rd, 1867): "I see you 'smell a rat' in the matter
of insular plants that are related to those of [a] distant continent being
common. Yes, my beloved friend, let me make a clean breast of it. I
only found it out after the lecture was in print!...I have been waiting
ever since to 'think it out,' and write to you about it, coherently. I
thought it best to squeeze it in, anyhow or anywhere,