Summary

Reports seeing flowers of wild cherry bitten off in same manner as primroses [see 9418 and 9444]. In this case it was done by a squirrel, though birds also bite the flowers of the cherry-tree.

Summary

Summarises, with comments, two letters from Johann von Fischer [10598, 10600] on the display by monkeys of their brightly-coloured hindquarters, and the relation of this behaviour to sexual selection.

Summary

CD forwards letter from F. J. Cohn [11093] that provides confirmation of observations by Francis Darwin on the contractile filaments protruded from the glands of Dipsacus.

Summary

Sends letter from Fritz Müller [11191] containing observations on plants and insects of South Brazil, with prefatory comments.

Summary

CD’s letter on wide distribution of freshwater plants and animals introduces a letter to him from Arthur H. Gray [see 11497].

Summary

Comments on a letter from Fritz Müller [11839] and particularly on the subject of the disappearance of certain structures in organisms. FM’s explanation deserves serious consideration.

Summary

Reports information sent by E. Schulte [12254] on the colours of the male Diadema bolina.

Discusses extent to which consciousness came into play in the origin of certain instincts, including sexual display.

Summary

CD has repeated a test of whether hybrids of the common and Chinese goose are fertile inter se. Reports his success, and comments on its significance for the theory of descent.

Summary

Forwards a letter from E. S. Morse on Omori shell mounds refuting F. V. Dickins’ review [Nature 21 (1880): 350] of Morse’s memoir ["The shell mounds of Omori", Mem. Sci. Dep. Univ. Tokyo 1 (1879) pt 1].

Summary

Sir Wyville Thomson misunderstands natural selection when he says the theory "refers the evolution of species to extreme variation guided only by natural selection". CD demurs at the "extreme variation" and the "only". No one has said evolution depends only on natural selection. CD has adduced many facts on the effects of use and disuse and on the direct action of the environment.

Summary

Quotes an extract from a letter from Mr Sanderson of Chislehurst on the disappearance of black or spotted sheep from Australian flocks when the coloured sheep ceased to be of use to man.

Summary

Summarises the "remarkable facts about the movements of plants" in Fritz Müller’s letter of January [12996]. CD comments that Müller’s observations support the conclusion that he and Francis Darwin arrived at – that leaves go to sleep to escape the full effects of radiation.

Summary

Summarises a letter from Fritz Müller [missing] giving details of leaf movement in Mucuna, Desmodium, and Bauhinia. CD is especially interested in the paraheliotropic movements, which appear to be as common as sleep movements.

Summary

Communicates two cases of inheritance reported by J. P. Bishop [in 13137]. The work of E. Brown-Séquard has demonstrated that effects of injuries can be inherited ["Hereditary transmission of an epileptiform affection accidentally produced", Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 10 (1860): 297–8]. E. Dupuy has sent CD a still more remarkable case.

Summary

Quotes from a Fritz Müller letter of 9 Aug supporting CD’s views that leaves position themselves at night so as to minimise heat loss by radiation. It is a new fact to CD that leaves take different positions at different seasons.

Summary

Summarises letter of William Nation [13350]. The facts given strongly support the conclusion that there is some close connection between the parasitic habits of birds that lay their eggs in others’ nests and the fact of their laying eggs at "considerable intervals of time".

Summary

Reports observations of W. D. Crick [see 13705, 13715, and 13721] and Frank Norgate [see 13079]. They leave no doubt that living bivalves are often carried from pond to pond.

Summary

Comments on A. W. Bennett’s letter [Nature 1 (1869): 58] on fertilisation of winter-flowering plants. CD used net, not a bell-glass to cover Lamium.

Refers to F. Delpino’s observations on fertilisation of grasses; CD is glad to say these observations are compatible with "the very general law that distinct individual plants must be occasionally crossed".

Summary

Replies to Francis Galton’s paper on tranfusing blood between rabbits to test Pangenesis [Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 19 (1871): 393–40]. FG’s conclusion that his experiments prove Pangenesis to be false is "a little hasty", since CD had never maintained that gemmules in the blood formed any part of his hypothesis.

Summary

Refers H. H. Howorth, the writer of "A new view of Darwinism" [Nature 4 (1871): 161–2], to Variation for a discussion of fertility and sterility of organisms in relation to increased food and other factors.