Has finished correcting Primula paper [see 4332].

Has presented paper on monoecious spikes of maize [Edinburgh New Philos. J. 2d ser. 19 (1864): 213–20].

JL’s article on Huxley’s "Lectures [to working men]".

Planning a volume of essays [Prehistoric times (1865)].

Glad CD is sending his Primula paper to Linnean Society.

Sends promised Linum seeds.

Regrets sending his MS missing two pages.

Has proofs of his paper on the monoecious spikes of maize [Edinburgh New Philos. J. 2d ser. 19 (1864): 213–20].

J. H. Balfour objected to notion of maize descent from a hermaphrodite.

Reading of JS’s paper on Selaginella hybrid [Edinburgh New Philos. J. 2d ser. 19 (1864): 192–9] deferred until March. Believes it is first example of experimentally produced hybridity in higher cryptogams.

Asks CD to sign certificate nominating Flower for Royal Society.

CD very ill.

Suspects F. Boott’s widow is illegitimate granddaughter of Erasmus Darwin.

CD, like JDH, has speculated that agrarian weeds have become adapted to cultivated ground. Suggests comparison with country of origin.

Wallace’s praise of Herbert Spencer’s Social statics baffles CD.

[Letter completed by E. A. Darwin.]

Has verified J. M. Bechstein’s contention that species of finches hybridise.

Quotes Thomas Bewick’s observations on hybrids between pheasants and common fowl. RGM had often noticed so-called "pheasant fowl", but thought it was a foreign bird.

Collecting subscriptions for a school at Ford.

Sends his MS of orchid paper ["A few notes on the fecundation of orchids and their morphology", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 8 (1865): 127–35] for CD to send to an editor.

CD was right about Catasetum sexes.

Ficus experiments fail.

JDH’s opinion of Herbert Spencer.

Rejects CD’s view of inheritance of induced modifications.

Huxley grows fat.

CD’s illness.

The difficulty of getting John Scott to publish his work. Has sent Scott’s paper [on Primulaceae] to Linnean Society. CD is sure it is valuable.

CD continues very ill.

His only work is a little on tendrils and climbers. Asks whether all tendrils are modified leaves or whether some are modified stems.

Last number [Jan 1864?] of Natural History Review is best that has appeared.

Botanists are obliged to regard tendrils as either leaf- or stem-formations. Vitis, Passiflora, and Clematis are discussed. [See 4398.]

Bentham proposes John Scott be made an associate of the Linnean Society.

Tells of a declaration and a subscription list to defend the rights of Bishop Colenso.

John Scott’s paper [see 4332] read at Linnean Society; praised by George Bentham.

Himalayan pine in Macedonia.

JDH is in a quarrel with H. C. Watson.

JS’s Primula paper was read at the Linnean Society and praised warmly by G. Bentham. Hooker was not present.

Compares Clematis and Tropaeolum with respect to touch response. Tropaeolum shows a momentary response and quick recovery. Clematis takes hours to respond, and shows no recovery.

CD can show the gradations between leaves and tendrils, but how a branch passes into a tendril utterly puzzles him.

Reception of Scott’s paper.

Difficulty of writing Boott’s obituary.

Critical of Edward Frankland’s glacial theory.

Falconer’s and Ramsay’s views on Himalayan lakes lack support of basic evidence.

Taxonomic distribution of climbing plants.

Huxley picks quarrels with minor figures and thus magnifies them.

Bentham so impressed with JS’s paper that he is invited to become Associate Member of Linnean Society.