Thanks WCM for plant.
Mentions "your new room" at Down.
Thanks WCM for plant.
Mentions "your new room" at Down.
Discusses various authors’ interpretations of the structure of the embryo of grasses.
Discusses the structure of grass embryos; states differing theories regarding which part of the seed corresponds to the cotyledon.
Forwards an unspecified work for FD to read.
Sends letter and seeds from [F. J. Cohn].
Is working too hard.
On an elephant’s crying when foot was operated on.
Good article by Fritz Müller in Kosmos supporting August Weismann’s views on caterpillars.
Pleased EH is translating Forms of flowers. Agrees "cowslip" and "oxlip" ought to be translated by their scientific names.
Regrets he was not at home when HDG called.
HDG’s observations on the evolution of the human ear are well worth consideration.
Thanks HM for his review [of Forms of flowers, Kosmos 2 (1877–8): 286].
Thinks HM’s previous article was very important [Kosmos 2 (1877–8): 128–40]. CD will "heartily rejoice" if HM has explained the steps by which Rhamnus and Valeriana have been rendered dioecious.
Wishes to borrow third part of Fritz Müller’s article on sexual selection in butterflies [Kosmos 2 (1877–8): 218–24].
Is forwarding material on stridulation, including Prof. Wood-Mason’s paper ["Note on Mygale stridulans", Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1877): 281–2], which should interest CD.
Thanks correspondent for note and specimen; they will be of use in new edition of Forms of flowers.
Is dispatching December number of Kosmos.
Will read the discussion on stridulation that RM mentioned.
The portrait of Erasmus Darwin by Wright of Derby has been dispatched.
Comments on discovery of micro-organisms in disease.
Describes experiments carried out by Francis Darwin on filaments of Dipsacus.
Sends cutting on origin of variety of merino sheep.
Would like references to works on breeding.
Discusses dates when he might meet the prince (Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria) in London, or perhaps the Prince might visit Down.
Cites language books; a comparison of them shows unity of language.
Asks about the composition of a spermaceti ointment which he has been buying for some years "because I blackened some young shoots of plants with this ointment mixed with Lamp-black & it produced an extraordinary effect on the shoots, which I think cannot be accounted for merely by the exclusion of light".
Constituents of spermaceti ointment supplied to CD. Perhaps effect was caused by substance used to bleach the bees-wax.