Invites GRW and his family to visit.

Did not think anyone would notice case of Lathyrus.

Recalls reading correspondent’s paper on great fir woods of Hampshire.

Thanks for photograph.

Encloses letter from J. D. Hooker. Glad he will soon be home.

Everyone will be astonished at oaks and birches of tropics.

Asks for reference to article by Kölliker, ["Some observations on the structure of two new species of Hectocotyle", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 22 (1851): 9–22]. Asks for information.

Asks if CSB can help him obtain specimen of Verruca.

Knows no one in Buenos Aires. Suggests sites in South America where Auguste Bravard can find fossils.

Ray Society has delayed distribution [of Living Cirripedia (1851)].

Thanks for writing about E. A. Darwin’s illness. Will never forget the comfort she was [when Anne Darwin died, 1851].

"The Pigeons are all quite well".

Sends thanks to Mrs Cotton.

Much concerned by death of JBI’s mother.

Sorry to hear of AS’s poor health.

Would like to attend Aberdeen meeting [BAAS, 1859] but is unfit for so great an exertion. Has been told he has "suppressed gout".

Pleased that AS remembers their 1831 geological trip, which made CD appreciate the noble science of geology.

Thanks CK for allowing him to insert his "admirable sentence" [in Origin, 2d ed., p. 481].

Henrietta’s illness.

CD’s resort to [E. W. Lane’s] water-cure.

Other family news.

Etty [Henrietta Darwin] much improved.

Reference to his "hobby of striped asses".

Sceptical of JBI’s "curious stories" on spirit-tapping: "believe nothing one hears & only half of what one sees".

Going to sea-side for Etty’s health.

Asks JBI further questions about a striped donkey he had reported to CD.

Etty has had a relapse. "What the end will be, we know not."

Thanks for interesting letter which confirms belief that a good observer is a good theorist.

He is glad to hear that HWB, with his wide knowledge of natural history, has anticipated CD in many respects and agrees with the Origin.

Has been thoroughly attacked, especially by entomologists – J. O. Westwood, T. V. Wollaston, and Andrew Murray.

Glad HWB is writing on "equatorial refrigeration"; CD expresses his belief in north to south migration during glacial period.

News of Etty’s health and of neighbours.

Pleased that JBI likes Origin.

CD never expected to convert people in less than 20 years, though now convinced he is "in the main right". Bishop of Oxford’s review made "splendid fun" of him.

Comments on the great extent of variations and on the acknowledgment of the new idea of greater female variety.

Expresses belief that the glacial period did affect the tropics, though HWB’s arguments have confounded him.

Poses a series of questions concerning sexual selection.

CD urges HWB to write on his travels;

asks for facts on domestic variations;

is pleased by HWB’s acceptance of the theory of sexual selection.

He still believes in migration from north to south during glacial age.

Hopes Bates will publish a paper on mimicry.

Describes results of his experiments with hollyhocks. Some varieties breed true even though growing near others. This suggests that their pollen is "pre-potent" over that of other varieties, which is not the case with most plants. Asks some questions on which he would be glad to have correspondent work. [See also 3170.]