Summary

Sends review by Quatrefages [de Bréau] of Owen’s Parthenogenesis [1849].

J. D. Dana’s congratulations on JL’s marriage.

Summary

Smallpox in the village. Death of Joseph Parslow’s son.

Summary

Regrets he cannot help JL; the point [unspecified] was always a trouble to CD also.

Has been to a poultry show.

Asks for the return of a lens.

Summary

Quotes passage from [Frédéric?] Gerard on distribution of certain Lepidoptera.

Summary

JL is studying Cynipidae. CD sends galls for his examination.

Summary

Wishes to borrow fly pincers for his son George.

Discusses T. V. Wollaston’s book on insect variation [On the variation of species (1856)].

Summary

Discusses arthropod structure and the nature of the corium.

Summary

Congratulations on JL’s marriage. Invitation to dine at Down with the Hookers, Huxleys, and T. V. Wollaston.

Summary

Inquires about a Mr Smith, who might prove helpful "in the domestic bird line".

Summary

Comments on JL’s paper on Daphnia, ["An account of methods of reproduction in Daphnia and of the structure of the ephippium", Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 147 (1857): 79–100].

Summary

Regrets he cannot accept dinner invitation.

Summary

Asks JWL to use his influence to forward the appointment of T. H. Huxley to the Examinership in Physiology and Comparative Anatomy at University of London. Gives details of THH’s qualifications.

Summary

Obliged for JWL’s note [missing]. Will forward it to Mr Wedgwood.

Remarks, "it was … blunder of A. Woods about your wanting the Furniture."

Summary

Is trying to procure some cocks for CD.

Believes Scotch deerhounds are mongrels.

Summary

Thanks for offer of Helix for experiment. Asks for assistance. Mentions failure of his own experiment involving Helix pomatia.

Summary

Asks whether the blind cave animals described by B. Silliman Jr [Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 11 (1851): 332–9] belong to genera found only on the American continent.

On geographical distribution of Crustacea, CD asks whether northern genera sent species to the Southern Hemisphere or did southern genera send species north?

Does he know of any author who has described fossil trees in South Shetland Islands?

Summary

Arrangements for visit of Huxleys to Down on 26 Apr.

Summary

Grateful for Siebold’s wonderful facts [C. T. E. von Siebold, On a true parthenogenesis in moths and bees (1856), trans. by W. S. Dallas (1857)].

Vitality of spermatozoa.

Hybridisation of bees. Bees are in one respect his greatest theoretical difficulty.

CD still convinced about the relation of cement receptacles and ovarian tubes [in Crustacea].

Birth of C. W. Darwin.

Summary

Writes of WED’s progress at school and events at home.

Discusses pigeons, with which he is "getting on splendidly".

Summary

Gives references to works on fowls and pigeons.

Observations on Gallinaceae.

Musk ox skull from southern England is additional evidence for Agassiz’s glacial period. Owen is mistaken in calling it a buffalo.

EB describes the buffalo proper.

Will send domestic pigeon specimens.

Believes pigeons were not bred in India before the Mohammedan conquest. Describes Indian breeds.

Believes the ass is an African rather than an Asian production. Discusses various species of ass and their distribution.

Wild horned cattle on borders of Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur.

[Notes received by CD on 6 May 1856.]