Darwin's Backyard

by James T. Costa

  meaning of experimental science to, 2–3

  notebooks of, 35

  as observer, 36–39

  orchid studies of, 227–61

  “parallel roads” paper of, 30–31, 31

  pigeon studies of, 69–73

  plant survey of, 92

  pollination and, 182–226

  possible dyslexia of, 14

  post-Beagle celebrity of, 25–26

  Principle of Divergence of, 108–12, 110

  proposed Canary Islands trip of, 13, 14, 16

  research method of, 68, 77, 188

  Royal Medal earned by, 67

  on Sarawak Law, 74

  scientific rivalry encountered by, 7

  seasickness of, 17–18, 19, 41

  “seed-salting” experiments of, 163–67, 173–77

  sense of wonder of, 24–25

  slave-making ants studied by, 138–44

  statistical analysis of botanical manuals by, 100–103, 106–12

  sundew studies of, 262–94

  tangled bank imagery of, 83–85

  transmutationism of, 45–47

  trimorphic flowers and, 214–18

  Venus flytrap studied by, 279–86

  water cure treatments of, 59, 68, 238, 300

  wedge metaphor of, 87

  Weed Garden Experiment of, 105, 115–17, 124

  weed garden of, 103–4

  workload of, 58

  work on natural selection begun by, 34–35, 36

  works of, xii–xiii

  Darwin, Charles Waring, 75, 103, 131, 216

  Darwin, Elizabeth “Bessy,” 64, 119, 209, 217, 229, 245, 346

  Darwin, Emma Wedgwood, xi–xii, 57, 58, 64–65, 72, 88, 107, 129, 141, 169, 182, 185, 189, 190, 209, 216, 217–18, 229, 239, 244, 245, 263, 268, 300, 311, 336, 350, 357, 359, 361

  Darwin, Erasmus “Ras” Alvey (brother), xv, 1, 2, 5, 45, 65, 128, 244, 346

  medical course of, 3

  Darwin, Erasmus (grandfather), xv, 86, 279

  poetry of, 5

  Darwin, Francis “Frank” (“Franky”), xii, 92, 119, 166, 188, 209, 217, 229, 244, 257, 275–76, 286, 300, 302, 309, 317, 320, 322, 323–24, 346, 350, 355, 357, 362

  seed-dispersal experiment suggested by, 166

  wife’s death and, 311

  Darwin, George “Georgy,” 64, 112, 118–19, 120, 209, 217, 244, 257, 300, 346, 354, 357, 359

  discovery of “buzzing places” by, 118-19

  Darwin, Henrietta “Etty,” 64, 72, 92, 119, 190, 209, 211, 217, 229, 238, 239, 241, 244, 245, 268, 310, 346, 351, 357

  Darwin, Horace, xii, 88, 92, 217, 229, 245, 268, 300, 346, 350, 354, 357, 359–60

  on natural selection of adders, 268

  Darwin, Leonard “Lenny,” xii, 88, 92, 119, 120, 122, 216, 217–18, 229, 268, 300, 336, 346

  Darwin, Robert, 1, 65

  Darwin, William “Willy” Erasmus, 58, 64, 72, 119, 128, 189, 209, 214, 216, 217, 241, 245, 257, 300, 346, 347, 357, 361

  Darwin’s orchid, 255–57

  Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen (Sprengel), 188

  Davy, Humphry, 2, 99, 169

  Davy, John, 169–70

  Dawkins, Richard, 133

  Day of the Triffids (Wyndham), 263

  de Candolle, Augustin, 11

  de Chadarevian, Soraya de, 321, 322

  deduction, 2–3

  descent, 69, 70, 76

  Descent of Man, The (Darwin), 219, 346, 350

  deutzia (Deutzia gracilis), 311

  “developmental law,” 134

  Devil’s snare, 295

  De viribus electricitatis (Galvani), 4

  Devonian, 15

  de Vries, Hugo, 307

  Dictionnaire universel d’histoire naturelle, 61

  Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species, The (Darwin), 187

  dimorphism, 212

  dioecy, 211, 215

  Dionaea, 352

  dispersal, 149–51, 154, 155–56, 159–60, 162–72

  chance long-distance, 172–73

  of fish, 169–70

  by predators, 167–68

  of snails, 170–71

  by waterfowl, 177–81

  Dissertations on Subjects of Science Connected with Natural Theology (Brougham), 123

  divergence, principle of, 108–12, 110

  diversification, 106

  diversity, 89, 90–97, 98, 102, 106, 110, 124, 150

  divine providence, 49

  DIY experiments:

  barnacles, 78-82

  bees’ cells, 144–48

  climbing plants, 326–35, 330, 332

  duck-foot experiment, 177–81, 179, 180

  earthworm behavior, 370–74, 371, 373

  lawn plot, 113–15, 114

  orchid dissection, 258–61, 260, 261

  pollination and flower dissection, 220–26, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226

  seed salting, 173–77

  sundew and fly-trap behavior, 288–94, 291, 293

  weed garden, 115–17, 116

  DNA, 57, 71

  dogs, 121

  “dog-strangling vine,” 295

  domestication, domesticated animals, 53–58, 59, 75–77, 103

  Double Bubble Conjecture, 146

  Doubleday, Henry, 209

  Downe Bank see Orchis Bank

  Down House, xi, xiii, xvi–xvii, 42, 64–65, 72, 84, 105, 121, 124, 170, 171, 187, 203, 205, 240, 263, 311, 354, 368, 370

  Great House Meadow at, 203–4, 206

  Great Pucklands Meadow at, 92–97, 368–69

  greenhouse at, 297

  pigeon lab at, 73

  sandwalk at, 189

  Drosera, 352

  Drosera glanduligera, 278

  Drosera huegelii, 267

  Drosera intermedia, 276

  Drosera lunata, 267

  Drosera rotundifolia, 269–77, 270, 291

  soup-dish experiment with, 275–76

  Droseraceae, 264

  ducks, 168, 170–71

  duck-foot experiment, 177–81

  duckweed experiment, 168–69

  dulosis, 140, 143

  Dutrochet, Henri, 299

  eagles, 167

  early purple orchid (Orchis mascula), 232–33, 234

  earth, age of, 14

  earthquakes, 28–29, 41

  Earthworm Research Group, 368

  earthworms, 27, 336–74

  castings of, 339, 340, 351, 355, 356

  described, 338–39

  DIY experiments with, 370–74, 371, 373

  effect on erosion of, 352–56

  as geological force, 337

  intelligence of, 365

  musical instruments played to, 363–64

  sense of perception of, 362–64

  soil churning by, 337–44, 348–49, 368–69

  Earthworms (Darwin), 361, 366, 367

  Eastbourne, 239, 268

  Echinocystis lobata, 297, 298–99, 307–8

  ecological division of labor, 90–92, 98, 100, 110

  ecological succession, 95–96

  ecology, 85

  economy of nature, 89

  Edinburgh, 3–8, 19

  Edinburgh, University of, 3, 352

  Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom, The (Darwin), 187, 197, 204

  egg dumping, 138

  Ehrenberg, Christian Gottfried, 341–42

  electricity, 4

  electrophysiology, 4

  Elton, Charles, 111

  Elwin, Whitwell, 75

  embranchements, 48–49, 50

  embryology, 71

  embryos, 46, 52–53

  emotions, expression of, 347–48

  enclosures, 105–6, 204, 206

  endemism, 150

  endogeic worms, 338

  English carrier (pigeon), 71

  English Heritage, xiii, 368

  English ivy (Hedera helix), 305, 328

  entangled (tangled) b
ank, 83, 84, 85, 96, 112

  Entomological Society of London, 130, 343

  Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer, xii

  epigeic worms, 338

  Erebus, HMS, 162, 244

  erosion, 352–53

  erosion subsidence, 337

  erratic boulders, 32, 33

  Essai élémentaire de Géographie botanique (de Candolle), 11

  Essai sur la géographie des plantes (Humboldt), 11, 152

  Essay (Darwin), 59–60, 75, 87, 157, 160, 186–87

  Essay on Classification (Milne-Edwards), 71

  Essequibo River, 247, 248

  Etruria Works, 2

  evolution, 251, 301

  diversification in, 46

  human, 346, 347, 350

  of Lamarck, 4–5

  Sarawak Law in, 74

  of sexes, 66–67

  see also natural selection

  evolutionary botany, 254

  evolutionary ecology, 112

  experimental design, 204

  experimental science, 2–3

  Experiment Book (Darwin), 167, 168, 211, 228

  experiments, DIY:

  with barnacles, 78–82

  with bees’ cells, 144–48

  with climbing plants, 326–35

  with earthworms, 370–74

  with heterostyly, 225–26

  with orchid pollination, 258–61

  with pollination, 220–24

  with seed-salting, 163–67, 173–77

  with sundews, 288–92, 291

  with Venus flytraps, 292–94, 293

  with wind-blown seeds, 35–39

  Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Darwin), 219, 347–48, 350, 352

  extended phenotype, 133

  extinction, 86, 90, 91, 96, 101, 110, 111

  eyes, 123, 252, 265, 266

  Eyton, Thomas, 73, 167

  facial expression, 347–48

  facultative brood parasitism, 138

  Falkland Islands, 64

  fantail (pigeon), 70, 71

  Farrer, Thomas Henry, 358–59, 361

  fertilizer, 337–38, 342

  Field, the Farm, the Garden, The: The Country Gentleman’s Newspaper, 127–28

  figs, 207

  finches, 26

  Firth of Forth, 6

  Fish, David Taylor, 348, 349, 367

  fish, Darwin’s experiments with, 149–50, 166–67, 169–70

  fish fins, 301–2

  Fitzroy, Captain, 17, 18, 28, 29

  flatworms, 23

  flax, 214

  flies, 229

  as pollinators, 196–97

  Flora Antarctica: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage (Hooker), 162

  flora insect mimicry, 237

  Floreana Island, 173

  flower constancy, 205–6

  “Flowering of the Strange Orchid, The,” 231

  flower polymorphism, 208–14

  flowers, 207–8

  of orchids, 229–30

  Flustra, 7, 20

  fly orchids, 230

  flypaper traps, 266

  food chain, 203

  foraminifera, 340, 342

  Forbes, Edward, 156–59, 160, 161

  Forest Service, US, 368

  Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, With Observations On Their Habits, The (Darwin) see Earthworms

  Formica rufescens, 139, 140

  Formica sanguinea, 139, 140–41, 143

  Forms of Flowers (Darwin), 201, 219

  Forsythia, 225

  fossil species, 151

  Fox, William Darwin, 8, 10, 12, 13, 41, 69, 149, 166

  foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), 198–99, 224, 224

  DIY dissection of, 224

  Fra Angelico, 348

  France, 49

  Frankenstein (Shelley), 4

  Fraxinella (Dictamnus albus), 191, 193

  French Academy of Sciences, 6

  Fries, Elias Magnus, 101

  frog eggs, 169

  Galápagos Islands, 20, 21, 24, 173

  mockingbirds of, 22, 26

  unique bird species of, 26

  Galileo, 111

  Galton, Francis, 363

  Galvani, Luigi, 4

  galvanometer, 285, 285

  Gardeners’ Chronicle, 163–64, 164, 191–92, 201, 236, 267, 343, 345

  garden pea (Pisum sativum), 185

  Gärtner, Karl Friedrich von, 213

  geese, 168

  Geikie, Archibald, 352, 353–54

  gene expression, 57

  Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Étienne, 5–6, 49–53

  Géographie botanique (Candolle), 85–86

  Geological Society, 13, 25–26, 27, 32, 58, 189, 246, 339, 343

  geology, 13, 337

  of Lyell, 17, 18–19, 27–29, 41

  geotropism (gravitropism), 317–24, 319, 332–35

  statolith theory of, 322–24

  Gérard, Frédéric, 61–62

  Germany, 320

  giant tortoise, Galápagos, 24

  glaciers, 32–33, 156–57, 159, 246

  Glen Roy, Scotland, 246, 352

  “parallel roads” of, 30–33, 31

  gloriosa lily, 303

  Glyderau Mountains, 15

  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 51

  Goldberg, Rube, 194

  goldfish, feeding seeds to, 149

  Gondwanaland, 160

  gooseneck barnacle, 80–82, 81

  Gordon, George, 240

  Gould, John, 26, 27, 58

  gourds, 172–73

  Grant, Robert Edmond, 5–8, 10, 17, 19, 20, 44

  grapes (Vitis), 295, 303, 312

  grasses, 92–93, 99–100, 315–16

  Grass Garden Experiment, 99–100, 100

  gravitropism, 317–24, 334

  Gray, Asa, 108, 188, 212, 214, 216, 218, 219, 251, 252–53, 258, 264, 267, 272, 281–82, 285, 296–97, 298–99, 301, 314, 347–48, 352

  Gray, Edward, 58, 63

  Gray, Jane, 347

  Gray, John Edward, 130

  great laurel rhododendron, 194

  Great Britain, 49

  Great House Meadow, 203–4, 206

  Great Pucklands Meadow, 92–97, 98, 368–69

  Guyana, 247

  Haeckel, Ernst, 346

  Hague, James D., 309, 311

  Haldane, J. B. S., 8

  Hallam, Arthur, 86

  hammer orchids (Drakea spp.), 230, 237

  Hampshire, 140

  Hartfield, 91, 238

  Harvard University, 63

  Hass, Joel, 146

  Hastings, 107

  hawk moth, 255–56

  heartsease (violets), 203

  heathlands, 104–5, 124

  helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), 229

  Henslow, John Stevens, 10–13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 25, 27, 58, 60, 97, 152, 164, 208, 210–11, 229, 241

  Herbert, John Maurice, 11

  Herbert, William, 184, 185

  heritability, 54

  hermaphrodism, 183

  herons, 168

  herring gulls, 364

  Herschel, John, 12, 15, 16, 59

  heterostyly, 211–14, 215, 219, 225–26

  hexagonal cells, 125

  Hill, Leith, 91

  hill-ants (Formica rufa), 141

  History of the Inductive Sciences (Whewell), 12

  Hoffmeister, Werner, 366

  Holcoglossum amesianum, 237–38

  Holland, Henry, 58

  Holwood Park, 356

  homologies, 50, 253

  homologous organs, 301

  homologous structures, 38

  homology, 288, 301

  honey, 124, 134

  energy required for production of, 134–35

  honeybees (Apis mellifera), 122–37, 144–48, 204–6, 218

  honeycomb, 123–37, 126, 133, 144–48, 145, 265

  energy used in construction of, 134–37

  honeysuckle (Lonicera), 302

  Ho
oker, Francis Harriet, 241–42

  Hooker, Joseph Dalton, 60–63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 75, 92, 93, 97, 102, 108, 127, 128, 142, 157, 160, 161, 162–63, 165, 166, 169, 200, 209, 210–11, 215, 218, 234, 239, 241–42, 244, 246, 255, 268, 287, 296, 298, 366

  hops (Humulus lupulus), 295, 328–29, 331–32, 332

  Horner, Leonard, 28

  horses, 124, 301

  Horwood, John, 296, 297, 315

  Hox genes, 42

  Huber, François, 128–29, 135,

  140

  Huber, Pierre, 135–36, 136, 139, 362

  human evolution, 346, 347, 350

  humblebees, see bumblebees

  Humboldt, Alexander von, 11, 12–13, 15, 18, 19, 25, 59, 102, 152, 152, 153

  Hunterian Lectures, 46

  Hutchinson, G. Evelyn, 111–12

  Hutchinson, Leslie, 112

  “Hutchinsonian niche,” 112

  Hutton, James, 17, 353

  Huxley, Thomas Henry, 76, 211, 238, 251, 299, 343, 349

  hybridization, 54, 55, 57, 183, 184

  Hydrobius, 171

  hydrocoral, 21

  hydrotropism, 315

  Hymenoptera, 118

  “hypothetico-deductive”

  method, 3

  Ibla cumingii, 65–66

  icebergs, 32

  Iceland, 159

  iguanas, 172

  Ilkley, 227

  inbreeding, 184–85

  Indian azalea (Azalea indica), 311

  induction, 2–3

  Ingen-Housz, Jan, 23–24

  In Memoriam (Tennyson), 86

  Innes, John, 129, 299

  Insectivorous Plants (Darwin), 266–67, 270, 272, 273, 275, 276, 278, 280, 286

  intelligent design, 11, 250–53

  interconnectedness, 202–3

  intercrossing, 103, 184, 185–86, 202, 211, 220, 237

  interfertility, 183

  Introduction à la Zoologie générale (Milne-Edwards), 89

  Introduction to Entomology (Kirby and Spence), 139

  invertebrates, 4–5, 6–7

  “invisible hand,” 125

  islands, 150, 152, 156, 159, 160, 172

  Isle of Wight, 142, 214, 240, 346

  isolation, 90

  Jamieson, Thomas Francis, 245–46

  Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), 223

  Jenkin, Fleeming, 349

  Jenyns, Leonard, 9–10, 16, 26

  Jessamine, yellow (Gelsemium sempervirens), 225

  Johns, C. A., 97, 98

  Jones, Roger, 276

  Jordan, Karl, 257

  Journal of Horticulture, 213, 258

  Journal of Researches (Darwin), 23, 25, 26–27

  Judd, John Wesley, 154

  kangaroos, 22

  Keith, Arthur, 368

  kelp, 20

  Kent Wildlife Trust, 229

  keratin, 274–75

  Kerguelen Islands, 163

  kettle lakes, 33

  Kew Gardens, 280, 285, 298

  Keynes, Randal, 206, 360

  kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), 201, 220–21

  Kingsley, Charles, 42–43, 208

  Kirby, William, 122–23, 139

  klinostat, 324