I hope Henslow will send you my Galapagos plants (about which Humboldt even expressed to me considerable curiosity)—I took much pains in collecting all I could. A Flora of this archipelago would, I suspect, offer a nearly parallel case to that of St. Helena, which has so long excited interest. Pray excuse this long rambling note, and believe me, my dear sir, yours very sincerely,
C. DARWIN.
Will you be so good as to present my respectful compliments to Sir W. Hooker.
[Referring to Sir J.D. Hooker's work on the Galapagos Flora, my father wrote in 1846:
"I cannot tell you how delighted and astonished I am at the results of your examination; how wonderfully they support my assertion on the differences in the animals of the different islands, about which I have always been fearful."
Again he wrote (1849):—
"I received a few weeks ago your Galapagos papers (These papers include the results of Sir J.D. Hooker's examination of my father's Galapagos plants, and were published by the Linnean Society in 1849.), and I have read them since being here. I really cannot express too strongly my admiration of the geographical discussion: to my judgment it is a perfect model of what such a paper should be; it took me four days to read and think over. How interesting the Flora of the Sandwich Islands appears to be, how I wish there were materials for you to treat its flora as you have done the Galapagos. In the Systematic paper I was rather disappointed in not finding general remarks on affinities, structures, etc., such as you often give in conversation, and such as De Candolle and St. Hilaire introduced in almost all their papers, and which make them interesting even to a non-Botanist."