urnbull's to a cool stove to mature seed. I fully believe the
case is worth investigation.

P.S.--You will not have time at present to read my orchid book; I never
before felt half so doubtful about anything which I published. When you
read it, do not fear "punishing" me if I deserve it.

Adios. I am come here to rest, which I much want.

Whenever you have occasion to write, pray tell me whether you have
Rhododendron Boothii from Bhootan, with a smallish yellow flower,
and pistil bent the wrong way; if so, I would ask Oliver to look for
nectary, for it is an abominable error of Nature that must be corrected.
I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the pistil.

LETTER 624. TO ASA GRAY. January 19th [1863].

I have been at those confounded Melastomads again; throwing good money
(i.e. time) after bad. Do you remember telling me you could see no
nectar in your Rhexia? well, I can find none in Monochaetum, and Bates
tells me that the flowers are in the most marked manner neglected by
bees and lepidoptera in Amazonia. Now the curious projections or horns
to the stamens of Monochaetum are full of fluid, and the suspicion
occurs to me that diptera or small hymenoptera may puncture these horns
like they puncture (proved since my orchid book was published) the dry
nectaries of true Orchis. I forget whether Rhexia is common; but I very
much wish you would next summer watch on a warm day a group of flowers,
and see whether they are visited by small insects, and what they do.

LETTER 625. TO I.A. HENRY. Down, January 20th [1863].

...You must kindly permit me to mention any point on which I want
information. If you are so inclined, I am curious to know from
systematic experiments whether Mr. D. Beaton's statement that the pollen
of two shortest anthers of scarlet Pelargonium produce dwarf plants
(625/1. See "Animals and Plants," Edition II., Volume II., page 150, for
a brief account of Darwin's experiments on this genus. Also loc. cit.,
page 338 (note), for a suggested experiment.), in comparison with plants
produced from the same mother-plant by the pollen of longer stamens from
the same flower. It would aid me much in some laborious experiments on
Melastomads. I confess I feel a little doubtful; at least, I feel pretty
nearly sure that I know the meaning of short stamens in most plants.
This summer (for another object) I crossed Queen of Scarlet Pelargonium
with pollen of long and short stamens of multiflora alba, and