Summary

Comments on a discussion of humming-birds by the Duke of Argyll [in The reign of law (1867)].

Encloses article by Henry Parker on the Duke’s book [Saturday Rev. 23 (1867): 82–4].

Summary

On the Duke of Argyll and a review of his Reign of law.

Asa Gray’s theological view of variation. God’s role in formation of organisms; JDH’s view of Providence.

Insular and continental genera.

Owen on continuity and ideal types

and on bones of Mauritius deer.

On man.

Summary

Sends a letter he wrote in 1862 [see 3482].

Summary

Discusses hybridisation in cowslip and primrose.

Mentions proposed visit.

Summary

Will do his best to get observations on expression among the Chinese.

Reports observations on hedgehogs collecting fruit with their spines.

Discusses the domestic pig of Formosa, its wild ancestors, and its capacity to breed with other races.

Summary

Sends CD cheque for £250, two-thirds of the profits on the sale of 700 copies of Origin, 4th ed.

Hopes he has found a suitable indexer for Variation.

Summary

Sends Swiss Aquilegia flowers in which insects have eaten away the spurs.

Suggests fetid smell of Stapelia attracts carrion flies.

Summary

Encloses memorandum on Origin [1866]

discussing mimicry in mammals and birds,

abnormal habits shown by birds,

behaviour of cuckoos,

and analogies existing between mammals of the same geographical region.

Speculates on possible lines of development linking groups of mammals.

[CD’s notes on the verso of the letter are for his reply.]

Summary

Sends J. P. M. Weale’s paper on Bonatea for consideration by Linnean Society [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 10 (1869): 470–6].

Summary

Reports observations on fertility of orchids he has self-pollinated and crossed with pollen of other species.

Summary

Informs CD of his reply to Argyll and the North British Review criticisms [in "Creation by law", Q. J. Sci. 4 (1867): 471–88]. Cites "the predicted Madagascar moth" and Angraecum sesquipedale.

Birth of Herbert Spencer Wallace.

Summary

Encloses list of people to whom he would like presentation copies of the German edition of Variation sent.

Summary

Asks whether he may have right to translate Variation into German.

Summary

Thanks LR for sending his works.

Correcting proofs of Variation.

Chapter on pigs and cattle derived mostly from LR’s work.

Summary

Thanks WED for a present.

Discusses the Duke of Argyll’s Reign of law [1867].

Is busy revising proofs [of Variation].

Summary

Made aware by Asa Gray of error with respect to Cypripedium. Does not doubt it is self-fertilised.

Summary

Thanks for information about the dotterel.

CD had ascertained by dissection that the female of the carrion-hawk of the Falkland Islands is very much brighter coloured than the male. Has inquired about its nidification. Mentions other instances of female birds that are brighter and more beautiful than the males and suggests causes for this anomaly.

Summary

Sends W. M. Canby’s observations on the carnivorous powers of Dionaea. [See Insectivorous plants, pp. 301, 310, 313.]

Summary

Describes his experiments in fertilising Oncidium flexuosum and comparison with Notylia.

Has been examining Catasetum.

Encloses seeds of two species of Gesneria and describes hairs in the seed capsule. Hairs in other plants seem to have a different function.

Starting tomorrow for a botanical excursion on the Continent.

Summary

The horns and spines of homopterous insects do not vary between sexes. Sexual differences in Blattidae.