My dear M^r Riley.

I must write half a dozen lines to say, how much interested I have been by your “Further Notes” on Pronuba. which you were so kind as to send me.—¹ I had read the various criticisms, & though I did not know what answer could be made yet I felt full confidence in your result, & now I see that I was right.—² What an inaccurate man M^r Meehan is!³ His Epitaph ought to be “He retarded natural science in the U. States as much as any one man advanced it”— I see that he is to report on Vegetable Physiology on the next meeting of your association.⁴ If you make any further observation on Pronuba—it would I think be well worth while for you to observe whether the moth can or does occasionally bring pollen from one plant to the stigma of a distinct one for I have shown that the Cross-fertilisation of the flowers on the same plant does very little good; &, if I am not mistaken you believe that Pronuba gathers pollen from the same flower which she fertilises—

What interesting & beautiful observations you have made on the metamorphoses of the grass-hopper destroying insects—!⁵

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely. | Ch. Darwin.