Summary

Has found no Sarcina on the slides of fluid [see 4272] and nothing referable to the food. Will repeat examination if vomiting recurs.

Summary

Discusses methods of pollination in orchids.

Thinks RT should investigate Physianthus to see if it requires insect aid for fertilisation as the Asclepiadaceae do.

Summary

[Roland] Trimen of the Cape of Good Hope sends evidence that a moth [Achaea chamaeleon] is capable of perforating the skin of a peach with its delicate proboscis. Have any readers observed moths or butterflies sucking any fruit of which the skin was not previously broken?

Summary

Admits, at last, that New Zealand must have been connected to some continent, but not Australia.

Climbing plants: asks for more plants.

Summary

The phial of fluid sent by CD is acid. Sends his microscopical examination.

Summary

On the cruelty of setting steel traps to catch vermin. Requests suggestions for putting an end to the practice. [This item is mentioned in Correspondence 11: 781 n.6. (Appendix IX)]

Summary

Duke of Argyll has been dubbed "Duke Darwinii" by papers.

Large number of toads have been found in railway cuttings; wishes a scientific observer had taken pains to explain where they came from.

Comments on Scottish schools and on the morals of the adult poor.

Summary

HF will send E. Suess’s paper [Edouard Suess, "Über die Verschiedenheit und die Aufeinanderfolge der tertiären Landfaunen in der Niederung von Wien", Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien (Math–nat. Klasse) 47 (1863): 306–31] which deals directly with natural selection.

Summary

Discusses and suggests treatments for CD’s stomach complaint. Recommends he consult William Brinton.

Summary

Forwards an enclosure for CD, at Archdeacon John Sinclair’s request [extract from J. Sinclair’s Life and works of Sir John Sinclair (1837) 2: 83–5], showing how Dr Erasmus Darwin anticipated Justus von Liebig [in recognising the importance of phosphorus-rich manures].