My Dear Sir,—

Your answers to my queries on expression are by far the best and fullest which I have received from any quarter.¹ An observer who is excellent in one line is pretty sure to be so in another, if he will, as you have been so kind as to do, turn his attention to it. I have had one long answer from Mr Erskine, a judge in your up-country and it is extremely curious that the two points which surprise me most in his letter surprise me in yours, namely that a native, when indignant, apparently had no tendency to close his fists and square his elbows. I wrote to Mr E. to observe this point again, and I much wish that you would do so as well, with a man indignant, and not in a violent passion. Secondly Mr E. made some remarks (I cannot find his letter at the present moment) about a lateral shake of the head, either in affirmation or negation; will you observe this point again?² An anxious or distressed girl, not in violent grief, offers the best chance of seeing the slightly oblique eyebrows, with the forehead transversely wrinkled only in the middle part.

I should be very grateful for any other observations, for many of your remarks shew that you are a first rate observer on this subject. Many thanks for handing my paper to Dr Anderson.³ You offer me help about pigeons; in Europe, but not in England, there are sub-breeds in which the males are differently coloured in a slight degree from the females. Will you enquire if any such sub-breeds exist in India?⁴ If so, I want to know at what period of life the particular colours of the male first appear. You could perhaps aid me on another connected point of great interest to me: there is a breed of fowls in India, in which the hens alone are sooty coloured, with black comb, wattles and bones.⁵ How is the plumage, comb, etc. of the cock coloured? But what I especially want to know is, whether the chickens of both sexes, when about two months’ old, resemble each other, and whether they nearly resemble the adult male or adult female.

The seeds of your violets and Vandellia have just germinated. Has Leersia produced perfect flowers with you?⁶ I thank you very sincerely for all your kind assistance, and with every good wish remain,

Yours sincerely, | Charles Darwin.