My dear Hooker

I return Haast’s letter: he is a glorious species man.—¹ I am very sorry for your account of your Boy (but what a fine little fellow Charlie appears).² What anxiety our children give us: Horace has been very bad in his stomach again, & we have resolved to go on Monday to “Rev. C. Langton   Hartfield   Tonbridge Wells” & thence to Leith Hill for a fortnight’s change, which indeed I much require.—³ Very many thanks for gratifying my silly hobby-horse about orchid seeds & they are all planted.⁴ If ever you have a very large pod of any foreign orchis, I sh^d. like it to estimate, out of mere curiosity, total number of seed.—⁵ One more thing, you told me of some plant, I think a Hot-House plant allied to Lythrum, with two coloured anthers; now I sh^d be really be particularly glad to examine fresh flowers of this plant this summer.—⁶

The more I think of Falconer’s letter, the more grieved I am; he & Prestwich (the latter at least must owe much to the Principles) assume an absurdly unwarrantable position with respect to Lyell.⁷ It is too bad to treat an old hero in Science thus. I can see from note from Falconer (about a wonderful fossil Brazilian mammal, well called Meso- or Typo-therium) that he expects no sympathy from me.⁸ He will end, I hope, by being sorry. Lyell lays himself open to a slap by saying that he would come to show his original observations; & then not distinctly doing so; he had better only have laid claim on this one point of man, to verification & compilation.⁹ altogether I much like Lyell’s letter. But all this squabbling will greatly sink Scientific men: I have seen sneers already in Times.¹⁰

I am heartily glad that your new specimens of Wellwitschia confirm your results: I suppose you are sure that these great “bristling” stigmas cannot serve to lift up or push out pollen, as in sterile florets of some Compositæ?¹¹ Have you ever looked at the common Ash? I find in my Field 3 classes of Trees; viz (1) females (seed-producers) with aborted anthers, & rarely with single good anther (2) Hermaphrodite (seed-producers) in my field few in number (3) Males “bristling” with good-sized pistils & stigmas, which soon drop off & with atrophied ovules: these male trees apparently do not produce a single seed; but I shall watch them— what a gradation!¹²

Emma tells me that the “Admiral’s Daughter” would not at all suit me,—too melancholy.—¹³

I am very glad you are stirring up Oliver for Orchideæ;¹⁴ by Jove he would find it a job worthy his talents & I sh^d. think most interesting. Do you ever see old Cottage Gardener; there is something odd about seeds of Orchids with little filament coming out, described by Gosse in last Wednesday’s. paper.¹⁵ If ever I have time I must have a look: one would suspect it was to attach seeds to bark.—

I am very glad you had such fine weather for your Trip.¹⁶

Farewell— | C. Darwin

Your plants in Hot-house are an everlasting amusement to me;¹⁷ but heat is killing.—