Summary

Draft of queries on the varieties of hollyhocks. [To be transmitted to William Chater by JSH; probably enclosed with 1778.]

Summary

Is impressed by all JSH is doing with his lectures and exhibitions at Hitcham.

Has read admirable Hooker MS on variation, geographical range, etc. [Introductory essay to the Flora Indica (1855)].

Summary

Thanks for approval of seed-soaking experiments in Gardeners’ Chronicle ["Does sea-water kill seeds?", 26 May 1855; Collected papers 1: 255–8]. They seem not to have convinced Hooker of consequences for geographical distribution.

Summary

Thanks for seeds. Feels "almost foiled" in his experiments on sea transport – has found few plants that float after more than a week’s immersion.

Sends a list of queries [see 1779] on hollyhocks to put to growers.

Summary

Is collecting facts on variation; questions AG on the alpine flora of the U. S.

Sends a list of plants from AG’s Manual of botany [1848] and asks him to append the ranges of the species.

Summary

CD now has a sufficiently large collection of [skeletons of] chickens to be able to tell how far the young differ proportionally from the old.

He goes on accumulating facts; what he will do with them "remains to be seen".

Attended Glasgow BAAS meeting. "Duke of Argyll spoke excellently" [Rep. BAAS (1855): lxiii–lxxxvi].

Lists his pigeon collection.

Summary

Relationship of schists to alternating beds of slate in western Tierra del Fuego and the Chonos Islands.

Comments on Sharpe’s theory of curved cleavage planes.

Example of metamorphosis in a "clay-slate porphyry region". Importance of previous lines of cleavage and stratification in foliation of metamorphosed rock.

Summary

Sends a skeleton of a Bengal jungle cock.

Has never heard of trained otters breeding in captivity.

Introduced domestic rabbits are confined to the ports of India.

Canaries and other tame finches and thrushes brought into India do not breed well.

Origin of the domestic canary. Tendency of domesticated birds to produce "top-knot" varieties.

The tame geese of lower Bengal are hybrids; those of upper Bengal are said to be pure Anser cygnoides.

Wild Anser cinereus occur in flocks in the cold season.

Discusses at length different breeds of domestic cats and possible wild progenitors. Wild and domestic cats occasionally interbreed. The Angora variety breeds freely with the common Bengal cat and all stages of intermediates can be found.

Believes pigeons have been bred in India since remote antiquity.

Discusses whether mankind is divided into races or distinct species.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]

Summary

Gives extracts from a letter by Thomas Hutton.

Rabbits are kept (generally by Europeans) in the NW. provinces and breed freely. Canaries are not well adapted to the climate. Reports on domestic cats and pigeons of the area. EB gives references to further information on cats, pigeons, and silkworms.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]

Summary

Has used borrowing rights at Linnean Society Library arranged for him by JDH.

Summary

Indigenous domestic animals of the New World.

Relationship of Newfoundland and Esquimo dogs to the wolf. Dogs like the Esquimo occur in Tibet and Siberia. Indian pariah dogs and jackals occasionally interbreed.

Describes domestic cats of India; reports cases of their interbreeding with wild cats. Wild cats are tamed for hunting.

Races of silkworm in India are crossed [see 1690].

Domesticated plants, fish, and birds of India.

Comments on local races and species of crows; it is impossible to trace a line of demarcation between races and species.

Variation in the ability of hybrids to propagate.

Indian cattle breeds; differences between Bos indicus and Bos taurus.

Is not satisfied that aboriginally wild species of horse and ass exist.

Believes all fancy breeds of pigeon originated in the East. Wild ancestors of pigeons, ducks, geese, and fowls. Interbreeding of wild species of pheasant.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]

Summary

Gives directions for sending seeds collected at Hitcham. The Lychnis and Myosotis have come up. Will begin their "torments" next spring [i.e., experiments to produce "sports"].

Summary

Reports on observing hive-bees visiting the leaves of vetch and bean and sucking the minute drops of nectar secreted by the glands on the underside of the stipulae. This phenomenon proves wrong those botanists who believe nectar to be a special secretion for the sole purpose of luring insects to visit flowers and thus to aid in their fertilisation.

Summary

Concerning specimens he wants collected in the Azores.

Summary

The only mainland vegetation he saw on Falkland Island shores were trees. Remembers no strange birds there, but on journey home saw a woodcock more than 500 miles from the nearest land.

Summary

Notes on the interbreeding of different races of silkworm. [Forwarded with explanatory note by Edward Blyth.]

Summary

Is collecting facts for Variation; would be grateful for skins of local [Cape of Good Hope] breeds of pigeons, ducks, and poultry.

Summary

Thanks for Hedysarum.

Pleasure in identifying field plants.

Summary

Observations on shells in India, listing some specimens with particular regard to their locality, elevation, and relationship to other known types.

Summary

Would welcome any distinct breed of poultry and would be glad to have any good pigeons.