My dear Dyer

I remember saying that I sh^d. die a disgraced man if I did not observe a seedling Cactus & Cycas, & you have saved me from this horrible fate, as they move splendidly & normally.¹ But I have two questions to ask: the Cycas observed was a huge seed in a broad & very shallow pot with cocoa-nut fibre as I suppose. It was named only Cycas.— Was it Cycas pectinata? I suppose that I cannot be wrong in believing that what first appears above ground is a true leaf, for I can see no stem or axis.—²

Lastly, you may remember that I said that we could not raise Opuntia nigricans; now I must confess to a piece of stupidity; one did come up, but my gardener & self stared at it & concluded that it could not be a seedling Opuntia, but now that I have seen one of O. basilaris, I am sure it was. I observed it only casually & saw movements which makes me wish to observe carefully another.³

If you have any fruit will M^r Lynch⁴ be so kind as to send one more.—

I am working away like a slave at radicles & at movements of true leaves, for I have pretty well done with cotyledons. Alas Frank is off tomorrow to Wurzburg, & work by myself will be dull work.—⁵

I am very sorry to hear about M^rs Dyer not gaining strength: with us civilised beings, nursing seems to try the constitution much; so it did sometimes with my wife, & there seems nothing but patience for it.⁶

That was an excellent letter about the Gardens: I had hoped that the agitation was over   Politicians are a poor truckling lot, for our minister must see the wretched effects of keeping the garden open all day long.⁷

Your ever troublesome friend | Ch. Darwin