Dear Sir

I thank you for your very obliging letter, & am pleased to hear that you have been interested in my works.² As you have been so kind as to offer me some notes, I sh^d be glad to receive any facts about which you feel positive; but I should mention that owing to having so many other subjects in hand I do not intend to follow up any further the subject of variation under domestication. With respect to the tailless dogs, there would be I fear much difficulty in determining how far the unknown causes, which occasionally lead in other countries dogs to be born without tails, have acted more energetically in Lisbon; & how far the result has followed from the cutting off of the tail; but if you c^d render your case highly probable it would be very interesting.³ Since the publication of my book I have heard of several other apparent cases of inherited mutilations.⁴ I would beg a favour of you, if you c^d get acquainted with any good botanist, viz to send me a living young plant of the rare Drosophyllum Lusitanicum, which grows in sandy places in Portugal.⁵ I have long wished to try a series of experiments on this plant.

With your taste for natural history, you must feel very isolated, & I can fully sympathize with you.

I am sorry to say that my health is weak, so that I have little spare strength or time to do more than to answer very briefly the numerous letters which I receive from various quarters. With every good wish pray believe me dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

P.S. At present I am engaged on the secondary sexual differences in animals of all kinds, & sh^d be grateful for any information.—