My dear Sir

Your kindness is unbounded, & I cannot tell you how much your last letter (May 31^st) has interested me.¹ I have piles of notes about the effects of water resting on leaves, & their movements (as I supposed) to shake off the drops.² But I have not looked over these notes for a long time, & had come to think, that perhaps my notion was mere fancy, but I had intended to begin experimenting, as soon as I returned home; & now with your invaluable letter about the position of the leaves of various plants during rain, (I have one analogous case with Acacia from S. Africa)³ I shall be stimulated to work in earnest.—

Very many thanks for the seeds which shall be sown. As soon as I saw Schizolobium, I inferred the structure was for distribution, but I could not imagine what its homologous nature was: I will show these seeds to Sir J. Lubbock, who is greatly interested in the subject.—⁴

I wrote a few days ago to you about your books.—⁵

I wrote also to D^r. Breitenbach & suggested to him to observe the flowers of the Melastomaceæ; but if you felt inclined to take up the subject, you w^d. do it incomparably better & make out the meaning of the two sets of anthers.⁶ I am trying to raise some Melastomaceous plants, but nothing can be well made out about the fertilisation of a plant, except in its native country.—

I sh^d like to hear whether the leaves of the Schizolobium, & of the Acacia of Oxalis sepium & of Ph. consanguineus & Phyllanthus Sp. III. (all of which move downwards during rain) are protected by a waxy secretion,— that is if when immersed under water they shine like silver, & are not wetted when soon withdrawn.

I have written in a hurry as we return home today, & I have many things to arrange⁷ | with hearty thanks, My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin