Summary

Wants information on plumage of chickens

and table of sex ratios in greyhounds.

Summary

Regrets he cannot come to London to be photographed [for GCW’s Eminent men of the day (1870)]. Invites GCW to Down.

Summary

Thanks for greyhound table; interested in transmission of colour in greyhounds and relationship to sex.

Summary

Not well owing to fall from horse.

[Drosophyllum] plants going on very well.

Summary

Enquires about spurs in the last year’s birds of Pavo Spicifer and cristatus.

Enquires about sexual differences in mandrills.

Asks the correct spelling of JNH’s surname and offers to send a copy of Journal of Researches.

Summary

ARW’s review of 10th ed. of Lyell’s Principles [see 6684] is admirable.

But he differs "grievously" with ARW on man. CD sees no necessity for an additional and proximate cause.

Summary

Thanks PGK for his aid in reporting the curious case of the parrot.

Will consult John Gould about rosella [Australian parakeet].

Recalls with pleasure their friendship on board the Beagle.

Summary

Thanks GM for specimens of Drosophyllum; by a strange coincidence CD has also received plants from a correspondent in Oporto [W. C. Tait].

Summary

Arranges to send a copy of Journal of researches.

Summary

Has made a wonderful recovery [from riding accident].

Asks for information on blushing and screaming [for Expression].

Summary

Thanks JM for Quarterly Review. A. R. Wallace’s article inimitably good – and a triumph that it appears where it will make B[ishop] of O[xford] and Owen gnash their teeth.

Delighted at the sale of F. Müller’s book.

Thinks he has brought Origin up to "present standard of science" [5th ed. (June 1869)].

Slow progress on Descent.

His horse rolled over him, but he is recovering rapidly.

Summary

Referee report on paper by Richard Spruce on sacs in Melastoma [see 6690]. CD says RS’s suggestions that sacs are inherited is not supported and should be deleted.

Summary

Asks for a photograph of CL to be used by a society [in Serbia].

Comments on article by Wallace ["Sir Charles Lyell on geological climates and the Origin", Q. Rev. 126 (1869): 359–94].

Has finished new edition of Origin [5th (1869)]

and is back at work on sexual selection [Descent].

Summary

Discusses changes in 5th edition of Origin owing to new evidence. CD now places more value on action of external conditions; thinks lapse of time [required for development of species] not so great as some geologists have thought, and single variations [saltations] of even less importance compared with individual differences.

Summary

Asks whether in Slavonic races the hair of the beard and head are different colours.

Summary

Thanks for [D. D. Cunningham’s] letter. Had hoped for a better haul but delighted to hear of the curious fossil.

Summary

Sends photograph of Sir C. Lyell and Professor Owen, generally considered our most distinguished [British] naturalists. Includes the requested photograph of himself [see 6720].

Summary

In response to a query from a Mr D. T. Fish, CD reaffirms his view of the efficiency of worms in bringing up in their intestines fine soil from below the surface. Reports on observations, during the past 25 years, which confirm his views.

Summary

Recommends publication of Mrs Barber’s paper on a rare case of fertilisation of a plant by one kind of insect alone, with access of others prevented by a mechanical obstacle [Mary Elizabeth Barber, "On the fertilisation and dissemination of Duvernoia adhatodoides", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 11 (1869): 469–72].

Summary

Sends a letter (and seeds) from Fritz Müller about a strange monstrous form of Begonia found wild in Brazil. Asks GB whether it is worth communicating to Linnean Society.