More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 / A Record of His Work in a Series of Hitherto Unpublished Letters

Transcriber's Notes:
All biographical footnotes of both volumes appear at the end of Volume II.
All other notes by Charles Darwin's editors appear in the text, in brackets () with a Chapter/Note or Letter/Note number.
VOLUME II. DEDICATED WITH AFFECTION AND RESPECT, TO SIR JOSEPH HOOKER IN REMEMBRANCE OF HIS LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP WITH CHARLES DARWIN You will never know how much I owe to you for your constant kindness and encouragement CHARLES DARWIN TO SIR JOSEPH HOOKER, SEPTEMBER 14, 1862
LETTER 378. J.D. HOOKER TO CHARLES DARWIN. Kew, January 20th, 1867.
Prof. Miquel, of Utrecht, begs me to ask you for your carte, and offers his in return. I grieve to bother you on such a subject. I am sick and tired of this carte correspondence. I cannot conceive what Humboldt's Pyrenean violet is: no such is mentioned in Webb, and no alpine one at all. I am sorry I forgot to mention the stronger African affinity of the eastern Canary Islands. Thank you for mentioning it. I cannot admit, without further analysis, that most of the peculiar Atlantic Islands genera were derived from Europe, and have since become extinct there. I have rather thought that many are only altered forms of existing European genera; but this is a very difficult point, and would require a careful study of such genera and allies with this object in view. The subject has often presented itself to me as a grand one for analytic botany. No doubt its establishment would account for the community of the peculiar genera on the several groups and islets, but whilst so many species are common we must allow for a good deal of migration of peculiar genera too.
By Jove! I will write out next mail to the Governor of St. Helena for boxes of earth, and you shall have them to grow. Thanks for telling me of having suggested to me the working out of proportions of plants with irregular flowers in islands. I thought it was a deuced deal too good an idea to have arisen spontaneously in my block, though I did not recollect your having done so. No doubt your suggestion was crystallised in some corner of my sensorium. I should like to work out the point.