LETTER 387. TO A. BLYTT.
Down, March 28th, 1876.

(387/1. The following refers to Blytt's "Essay on the Immigration of the
Norwegian Flora during Alternating Rainy and Dry Periods," Christiania,
1876.)

I thank you sincerely for your kindness in having sent me your work on the
"Immigration of the Norwegian Flora," which has interested me in the
highest degree. Your view, supported as it is by various facts, appears to
me the most important contribution towards understanding the present
distribution of plants, which has appeared since Forbes' essay on the
effects of the Glacial Period.


LETTER 388. TO AUG. FOREL.
Down, June 19th, 1876.

I hope you will allow me to suggest an observation, should any opportunity
occur, on a point which has interested me for many years--viz., how do the
coleoptera which inhabit the nests of ants colonise a new nest? Mr.
Wallace, in reference to the presence of such coleoptera in Madeira,
suggests that their ova may be attached to the winged female ants, and that
these are occasionally blown across the ocean to the island. It would be
very interesting to discover whether the ova are adhesive, and whether the
female coleoptera are guided by instinct to attach them to the female ants
(388/1. Dr. Sharp is good enough to tell us that he is not aware of any