Thanks JSH for specimens. Comments on the structure of a hornet comb and asks JSH to obtain some fresh combs for him and to make observations for him. He is greatly interested in "these wondrous architectural instincts".

Measles has ben running through the house, but they are now quit of it.

Discusses plans for JSH to visit; eager to discuss Origin.

Thanks for L. Jenyns’ very sensible letter [missing].

Will be delighted to see JSH whenever he can come.

Sends directions for JSH’s journey to Bromley and Down.

The termination of the voyage has been decided – September 1836.

The earthquake of Concepción.

His geological observations (since November). Can now prove both sides of the Andes have recently risen to considerable heights.

Zoological collection.

Plans to cross the Cordilleras.

Has just returned from crossing the Cordilleras. Geological observations of formations representing great epochs of violence which broke up the earth’s crust. Shells at over 12000 feet. Silicified trees in sandstone formations at great heights. Red snow and viviparous lizards. Botanical specimens.

Reminds JSH to send "sketch & account of the wasp’s comb in transitional state from horizontal to vertical, & the country whence procured".

Asks for information on spread of Anacharis [Elodea].

Sedgwick [in criticism of Origin] was not very fair, but Murray says it is splendid for selling copies to "the unfortunate students".

Sketch and description of a [wasp’s] nest from Cuba. [Notes by CD on wasps’ nests and comb-building habits of hive-bees.]

Reports to CD on what he has found out about Elodea growing near Cambridge.

Sedgwick is speaking at [Cambridge] Philosophical Society on CD’s "supposed errors" [Camb. Herald & Huntingdonshire Gaz. 19 May 1860, pp. 3–4].

JSH wonders how Owen can be so savage toward CD’s views when his own are "to a certain extent of the same character".

Comments on Richard Owen’s review of the Origin [in Edinburgh Rev. 111 (1860): 487–532]. Considers Owen unfair to CD and most ungenerous toward Hooker.

Expects Sedgwick to be fierce against him. Sedgwick also misrepresented CD in his Spectator review [24 Mar and 7 Apr 1860].

Compares natural selection to the undulatory theory of light as a hypothesis explaining a large number of facts.

Describes Sedgwick’s attack on CD’s views [at Cambridge Philosophical Society] and his own defence, though he believes CD has pressed his hypothesis too far.

Thanks JSH for his defence [see 2794].

He is not hurt for long by what his attackers say. His conclusions were arrived at after long study. He has certainly erred, but not so much as "Sedgwick and Co." think.

Asks JSH to send names of plants that vary greatly in length of pistil.

Sends characters by which he can divide all primroses and cowslips into what he suspects will be male and female plants. Believes these forms are first step in formation of a dioecious plant.

Looks forward to seeing volcanoes in Galapagos Islands.

Has altered his views on Cordillera formations as a result of another trip. Discusses his theory of their origin and history.

Discusses Charles Daubeny’s views on sexuality of plants [Rep. BAAS 30 (1860) pt 2: 109–10]. "There is no greater mystery in the whole world, as it seems to me, than the existence of sexes, – more especially since the discovery of Parthenogenesis."

Says apropos of the FitzRoy Bible incident [at Oxford BAAS meeting], "I think his mind is often on verge of insanity."

Thanks JSH for copies of "Extracts from letters addressed to Professor Henslow by C. Darwin, Esq." [privately printed for Cambridge Philosophical Society; Collected papers 1: 3–16].

The family is sensible how much CD owes to JSH, and RWD is highly gratified by CD’s success.

Has been observing Drosera. Asks JSH whether a curious motion in the red fluid poured out from the viscid hairs is a known or common phenomenon. It surprised him, but he is "so ignorant of vegetable physiology".

Sends further details on the movement of the red fluid substance in Drosera. Will write a paper on it.

"Dr [C. R.] Bree ""pitches"" into me handsomely."

His joy at prospect of journey’s end in eight months’ time.

Observations on Australia.

Reports on his collecting in Galapagos – its flora and very curious birds; its instructive geology.

Tahiti and good work of missionaries.

CD does not mind C. R. Bree’s dull, unvarying abuse and misrepresentation, but when he doubts CD’s deliberate word, "that is the act of a man who has not the soul of a gentleman in him".

JSH’s letter in Athenæum ["Flints in the drift", 20 Oct. 1860, p. 516] is interesting.

H. Freke’s paper [On the origin of species by means of organic affinity (1861)] is beyond CD’s scope.