Summary

Asks AW about archaeological evidence concerning the first appearance of dray horses.

Summary

Glacial action in the Andes.

Origin of Chilean sheep.

Varieties of S. American horses.

Summary

Comments on Rodwell’s discussion of the “struggle for life” with reference to languages and G. H. Lewes’s article in the Cornhill Magazine (Lewes 1860, pp. 445–7). Comments on Rodwell’s account of horses affected by mildewed pasturage, and asks for more information about his white cat.

Summary

Comments on relationship between eye-colour and deafness in cats [discussed in Origin]. Asks for more information.

Mentions criticism of Origin.

Thanks for information about horses.

Hopes JMR writes his book on language. Mentions Hensleigh Wedgwood’s work [A dictionary of English etymology, 3 vols. (1859–65)].

Summary

Floral anatomy.

Wallace’s capital response on reading Origin.

E. W. Binney has published on coal-plants living in marine waters ["On the origin of coal", Mem. Lit. & Philos. Soc. Manchester 2d ser. 8 (1848): 148–94], an old CD idea.

Waste of pollen in horse chestnut will make a good case against perfection.

Summary

JW’s case of black hogs shows marvellous relation of colour and constitution.

Could JW get information about eyes of cave rat?

Was JW struck by length of hind legs of male cattle?

CD has long shared JW’s doubts that mutilations were ever inherited but Brown-Séquard’s case seems to settle question.

Is not case of cats with blue eyes being deaf very odd?

Spinal stripes on horse too common to explain in way informant supposes.

Believes Owen "goes a long way with us", though he attacked CD in Edinburgh Review.

"No one other person understands me so thoroughly as Asa Gray."

Summary

CD has a low opinion of British entomologists.

Lyell’s ingenious difficulties with natural selection show he is in earnest.

Asks JDH to observe beetles and variation of stripes in mules on his Syrian tour.

Summary

Thanks HGB for agreeing to superintend translation of Origin.

Comments on HGB’s review.

Encloses corrections and preface for Schweizerbart. Discusses translation of term "natural selection".

Summary

Rejects CD’s comparison of natural selection with the architect of a building. The architect who plans and oversees construction should not be confused in his function with the wisest breeder. That would be to deify natural selection.

Summary

American edition of Origin. AG’s assessment of the book’s weak and strong points. Suggests Jeffries Wyman would be a useful source of facts and hints for CD.

Summary

Discusses Henrietta’s illness and their plans to return to Down.

Summary

Sends list of plants with asymmetry in nectar-secreting surfaces and pistils bent in that direction. Shows insect agency so important that structure has changed. Asks for contrary or confirming examples and that request be passed on to Daniel Oliver.

Summary

Comments on letter from Jeffries Wyman.

Discusses reprinting reviews by Asa Gray.

Mentions views of W. S. Symonds on the geological record.

Discusses descent of turtles and tortoises.

The universality of variation.

Notes only a few species leave modified descendants.

Discusses Apteryx.

Variation among pigeons.

Comments on fertility among hybrids.

Does not agree that he makes natural selection do too much work.

Summary

Sends copy of Origin.

Discusses stripes on hybrid of donkey and wild ass.

Will let ADB know if lady consents to sending rabbits to [Zoological] Gardens.

Asks about gestation of Canidae.

Summary

Comments on CL’s advice not to reply directly to reviews.

Describes work on his Drosera manuscript.

Work delayed on his "larger book" [Variation].

Comments at length on the evolutionary significance of Robert McDonnell’s investigations ["On an organ in the skate", Nat. Hist. Rev. (1861): 57–60].

Summary

Has received second part of AG’s Atlantic Monthly article ["Darwin on the origin of species", 6 (1860): 109–16, 229–39], and would like to have it reprinted in England with the first part.

Regrets no reviewer has touched upon embryology, which he feels provides one of his strongest arguments.

Summary

Casual observations on Drosera.

Wants to know author of good review of Origin in London Review [& Wkly J. Polit. 1 (1860): 11–12, 32–3, 58–9].

Athenæum will reprint Gray’s discussion.

Summary

Admires DO’s correlation of spiny tree species and dry hot climate. CD suggests that spines, like strange aroma of desert plants, protect against browsing where there are few plants.

Fragrance and unisexuality.

Dimorphism in Viola tricolor.

Summary

Huxley’s Royal Institution lecture on Origin [10 Feb 1860, Not. Proc. R. Inst. G. B. 3 (1858–62): 195–200] an "entire failure" as an exposition of CD’s doctrine.

R. I. Murchison very civil.

CD counts Lyell among the converted.

Summary

"You cannot tell how much your paper on Gestation has interested me" ["On some unusual modes of gestation in batrachians and fishes", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 27 (1859): 5–13].

Robert McDonnell has made curious discoveries on electrical organs of rays.

Is giving JW’s hog case in corrected ed. [3d] of Origin.

Would like account of tip of tail of young rattlesnake.