Summary

Reports on his collection of skeletons of young and adults of various breeds of fowls and specimens still needed.

Summary

Asks JSH to identify an umbellifer.

Describes his efforts to compare number of seeds of wild and cultivated plants.

Asks that more wild celery be collected and seeds counted. Seeks to verify whether "most typical form produces most seed" and whether cultivation lessens fertility.

Summary

Comments on the ease with which different species of Felis can be tamed.

Asian species of wild cattle.

Variation in colour of jackals.

Discusses the difficulties of differentiating between varieties and species. EB recommends Herman Schlegel’s definition of species [in Essay on the physiognomy of serpents, trans. T. S. Traill (1843)]. Problems of defining species of wolves and squirrels. Pigeons and doves afford an illustration of "clusters of species, varieties, or races". Various pigeons have local species in different parts of India and Burma, some of which interbreed where their ranges cross; as do the local species of Coracias [see Natural selection, p. 259].

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

Summary

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

Summary

Gives extract from a letter from Capt. R. Tickell: rabbits are not bred by the Burmese; common European and Chinese geese are bred but have probably only recently been introduced.

EB gives references to works illustrating the dog-like instinct of N. American wolves.

Discusses reason and instinct; ascribes both to man and animals. Comments on various instincts, e. g. homing, migratory, parental, constructive, and defensive. Reasoning in animals; cattle learning to overcome fear of passing trains.

Hybrid sterility as an indication of distinct species. Interbreeding as an indication of common parentage.

Enlarges upon details given by J. C. Prichard [in The natural history of man (1843)].

Adaptation of the two-humped camel to cold climates. Camel hybrids.

Doubts that domestic fowl or fancy pigeons have ever reverted to the wild.

Feral horses and cattle of S. America.

Believes the "creole pullets" to be a case of inaccurate description.

Variations in skulls between species of wild boar.

Pigs are so prolific that the species might be expected to cross.

Milk production of cows and goats.

Sheep and goats of lower Bengal.

Indian breeds of horses.

Variation in Asiatic elephants.

Spread of American tropical and subtropical plants in the East.

EB distinguishes between races and artificially-produced breeds.

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

Summary

Origin of domestic varieties. EB ascribes "abnormal" variations to man’s propagation of casual monstrosities; believes "normal" variations, e.g. European races of cattle, are a consequence of man’s selecting the choicest specimens. Gives examples of "abnormal" variations; they give rise to features that have no counterpart among possible wild progenitors. Divides domestic animals into those whose origin is known and those whose origin is unknown. Considers that the wild progenitors of nearly all domestic birds are known. Fowls and pigeons show many varieties but if propagated abnormalities are ignored each group can be seen to be variations of a single species, the ancestors of which can be recognised without difficulty. Discusses varieties and ancestry of the domestic fowl. Variation in the wild; the ruff shows exceptional variability; other species of birds show variability in size of individuals. Remarks that markings sometimes vary on different sides of the same animal. Comments on the want of regularity in leaf and petal patterns of some plants. Discusses domestic varieties of reindeer and camels. Origin of humped cattle. Reports the rapid spread of a snail in lower Bengal that was introduced as a single pair five or six years previously.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of part of this memorandum. Memorandum originally enclosed with 1760.]

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

Gives references to William Allen’s narrative of the Niger expedition [William Allen and T. R. H. Thompson , A narrative of the expedition sent by Her Majesty’s Government to the river Niger in 1841 (1848)]: common fowl returning to wildness, details of domestic sheep, ducks, and white fowl.

Range of the fallow deer; its affinity to the Barbary stag.

Natural propensity of donkeys for arid desert.

Indian donkeys often have zebra markings on the legs.

Believes the common domestic cat of India is indigenous.

Occurrence of cultivated plants from Europe in India; success of cultivation. Ancient history of cultivated plants.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of this memorandum and indicate that it was originally 20 pages long.]

Summary

History of the rose in India.

Looks forward to reading what Hooker and Thompson say on species and varieties in their Flora Indica [1855].

Domestication of the turkey in America. The Peruvians had domestic dogs. W. W. Robinson of Assam reports that otters are extensively trained for fishing but cormorants never are. Gives Robinson’s comments on local domestic geese, rabbits, and cats.

EB has skins of jungle fowl from different localities to send.

Summary

Sends final results of his experiments on the vitality of various kinds of seeds immersed in sea-water. Corrects a false assumption he made in an earlier letter [1684] that plants with ripe seeds would float for some weeks. Now finds that they sink within a month. Since all the seeds he tried sank in sea-water, his experiments are of little or no use "in regard to the distribution of plants by drifting of their seeds across the sea".

Summary

Asks TCE’s advice on preparation of birds’ skeletons.

His pigeon collection is growing; now has pairs of ten varieties.

Summary

Now has several pigeons, and intends to get pigeons from all parts of the world.

Glad TCE is working at dogs. Would TCE like head of Chinese dog?

Summary

Variation in cats.

Is comparing skeletons of poultry.

Summary

What does CD think of A. R. Wallace’s paper in the Annals & Magazine of Natural History ["On the law which has regulated the introduction of new species", n.s. 16 (1855): 184–96]? EB considers it good on the whole.

Japanned variety of peacock.

Regional variations in bird species.

EB has little faith in the aboriginal wildness of the Chillingham cattle.

Races of humped cattle of India, China, and Africa.

Indian and Malayan gigantic squirrels, with various races remaining true to their colour, would afford capital data for Wallace, as would the local varieties of certain molluscs. Has Wallace’s lucid collation of facts unsettled CD’s ideas regarding the persistence of species?

Bengal hybrid race of geese is very uniform in colour and as prolific as the European tame goose [see Natural selection, p. 439].

Will see what he can do for CD with regard to domestic pigeons.

Summary

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