Sends £9 for Down Coal and Clothing Club, consisting of £5 for self, £1 for his son George, and £3 for his son Francis.
Sends £9 for Down Coal and Clothing Club, consisting of £5 for self, £1 for his son George, and £3 for his son Francis.
Adds a point to his previous letter regarding the buoyancy of birds and their soaring capacity.
Sends specimens of Boronia.
Discusses the section on diclinous trees and herbs in CD’s new book [Cross and self-fertilisation, pp. 411–13]. CD’s theory that diclinism preceded hermaphroditism seems confirmed.
FM’s new position in Rio.
CD interested in nature of surface deposits at Rio.
Sends a copy of Cross and self-fertilisation.
Plants received from JDH.
Requests he verify an identification by Fritz Müller.
Asks CD to renew his former offer to propose him for the Royal Society, as Michael Foster, now on the Council, is unable to do so.
Lists his chief publications and suggests names of biologists in the Royal Society whom CD might ask to sign his nomination certificate.
Michael Foster approves of names FMB suggested CD apply to [in proposing FMB to the Royal Society] and adds George Allman, Foster, W. H. Flower, and P. M. Duncan, the only biologists on the Council.
Has examined the specimens of Boronia pinnata. No evidence of two distinct bodies of individuals.
Asks whether extra-American species of Aegiphila are heterostyled.
Complains at Albert Günther’s imputations against Charles Wyville Thomson [as a result of the dispute between Thomson and the British Museum, regarding the disposal of the specimens from the Challenger].
CD is glad to propose FMB for Royal Society. Explains information and certificates needed.
Responds to CD’s new work [Cross and self-fertilisation]. Suggests results might have been more convincing if CD had measured weights instead of heights. The fact that infertile hybrids have not been produced means that the "one great objection" has not been got rid of: the physiological characteristic of species. Suggests an experiment to produce "sterile mongrels" which would remove objection.
Believes Aegiphila to be exclusively American.
Contrasts fertilisation of Australian Acacia with Brazilian Mimosa.
Corrects Descent [1: 294] on inheritance of tortoise-shell colour in cats. It does not violate rule that characters appearing late in one sex are transmitted exclusively to the same sex.
Thanks SS for present of Life of a Scotch naturalist [1876]. Has read every one of his biographies with "extreme pleasure".
Has written via John Murray to thank for SS’s biography of Thomas Edward (Smiles 1876).
Is happy to sign a memorial concerning a Civil List pension for Thomas Edward.
JDH has sent a short-styled Forsythia from Kew. CD surmises that all Forsythia at Kew may be short-styled, hence he is curious to know whether they set seed.
CD is eager for further information about Lagerstroemia, which is sterile with its own pollen. Does the collection of dried plants reveal more than one form? Plans to republish papers on dimorphism.
Sends a passage relevant to Pangenesis [on regional accents distinguishable in the speech of those born deaf] from Life, letters, and journals of George Ticknor [ed. G. S. Hillard, vol. 1 (1876)], p. 196.
Tells of the controversy about evolution raging in Dunedin, with clergy playing a prominent part.
Discusses further his theory relating to the soaring capacity of birds.
Mentions hybrids produced by various crossings of game-birds.