Summary

Thanks for information on inheritance of mental peculiarities in cats.

Summary

"As I have never especially attended to Conchology I am sorry to say I cannot tell you the name of the enclosed shell which I now return–"

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Furnishes CD with more information on Volucella and gives him references relating to this and butterfly colourings. States that colours are not necessarily related to resting-places but rather an endowment to enable them to withstand adverse conditions.

Summary

Rudimentary ovules of Acropera.

High opinion of Bates.

Orchid anatomy.

Summary

Thanks HWB for references.

Praises his paper ["Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley", read before Linnean Society, 21 Nov 1861, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 23 (1862) : 495–566] which solves "one of the most perplexing problems which could be given to solve".

Discusses the difficulties of writing and expresses disappointment at Wallace’s book [Travels on the Amazon (1861)].

Summary

Acknowledges receipt of £245 18s.

Summary

Admires LR’s book [Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten (1861)].

Will attempt to arrange for skull of wild white Chillingham cattle to be sent by Earl of Tankerville.

CD has come to same conclusion as LR on zebus.

CD’s MS of Variation is half-prepared.

Summary

Trusts DO’s opinion on Acropera ovules.

Summary

Henri Lecoq’s miserable book on plant geography [Étude sur la géographie botanique de l’Europe (1854–8)].

H. W. Bates’s pleasure at meeting JDH.

Summary

Discusses the worsening relations between their two countries and the possibility of war.

Expects Orchids and his Primula paper [Collected papers 2: 45–63] to be out soon.

Thanks AG for some facts on dimorphism.

George Bentham has given him a list of Oxalis and Mentha species that are dimorphic like Primula.

Is in a "thick mud" regarding design in nature.

Summary

Delighted to have Quiz [Johnny Innes’ dog].

Summary

Thanks JL for a flower of Bolbophyllum, a genus that puzzles him.

Recent work has convinced him a number of orchids are male. Points out that JL [in The vegetable kingdom (1846), pp. 177–8] "accidentally misquoted" R. H. Schomburgk on this point.

Summary

Praises MS of first chapter of HWB’s book [The naturalist on the river Amazons (1863)]. Suggests he give common names and make comparisons to familiar English species to help readers. Suggests a few changes. Will speak strongly to Murray about publishing whenever HWB is ready.

Summary

Lindley suggests Gongora may be female Acropera.

CD’s orchid book nearly ready for press.

Discovers trimorphism in Lythrum is in H. Lecoq [Études sur la géographie botanique de l’Europe (1854–8)].

Summary

Arrangements for receiving Quiz.

Summary

Variation in instincts among domestic animals.

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Arrangements for sending Quiz.

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Delayed thanking JL for two notes until he heard from Hooker about Acropera luteola; had no idea A. luteola was not a well-known name.

Cites his reasons for identifying A. loddigesii as male; hopes for a Gongora flower from Hooker which, JL suggested, may be the female.

Summary

Seeks information on heating hothouses night and day.

Summary

Gongora cannot be female of Acropera; it may itself be a male.

Hopes Daniel Oliver will "sink Atlantis" in his Royal Institution lecture.