Information on Cyclamen and other plants.

Identification of some plants.

"Bloom".

Encloses article on local immunity to tuberculosis. Has he interpreted CD’s views correctly? Believes the immunity notable in areas like Iceland or mountain areas is due to local conditions, not natural selection. Describes his sanatorium in mountains of Silesia and medical criticism of his work.

Answers to queries are being sent.

Enclosure 1: statistics on puppies bred by Rayner in 1873.

Enclosure 2 from W. N. Massey: number of males or females raised depends entirely on preference of greyhound breeders.

Enclosure 3 from E. L. Williams: breeders prefer to destroy bitch pups.

Enclosure 4: Thomas Morse answers CD’s three queries, transmitted by GC: (1) in deerhounds, females predominate, three to one; (2) in all but cattle, females are less worth preserving; (3) TM rears all the young.

Enclosure 5: John Wright responds to CD’s queries about proportion of sexes in births of horses, cattle, and dogs.

Enclosure 6: G. W. Hickman cannot give reliable answers to CD’s queries on proportion of sexes born [in greyhounds?].

Has found the skull of the horned cock.

With regard to CD’s suggestion about the possibility of producing a pigeon breed with differently coloured sexes, WBT reports the results of crossing blue and silver dragons; the silver offspring are almost always hens.

Would like the latest edition of the Origin.

Encloses notes on volume one [of Descent].

Encloses a photograph showing the bleaching effect of the sun’s rays on dun feathers in pigeons.

Has read Krause’s "Life of Erasmus Darwin" [Kosmos 4 (1879): 397–424]; thinks it very interesting to anyone interested in "Darwinismus" – everybody.

Sends photographs of general paralytics. Expressions of exaltation of [these?] patients do not come out well in the photographs.

Is experimenting with idiots under his care. Has been unable to produce a blush in any one of them.

Promises answers to CD queries on dogs.

Enclosure 1: G. A. Graham responds to CD’s questions (transmitted by GC) on greyhound breeding and proportion of sexes reared.

Enclosure 2: J. W. Robertson’s general rule has been to preserve male deerhound puppies in preference to females.

Enclosure 3: Proportion of sexes in dog litters [for Descent, 2d ed.] from W. Forbes.

Sends reference to Codrington paper on gravels ["The superficial deposits of the south of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 26 (1870): 3–28]. Comments on local gravels in railway cutting and the violent agency of their removal from hills.

Errata slip forInsectivorous plants

Letter enclosing decree from the Accademia dei Lincei, with signatures dated 2 and 16 July 1875.

The Royal Society have not accepted R. L. Tait’s paper on insectivorous plants; it will be returned to CD, who submitted it.

Discusses geographic distribution of tuberculosis and possible explanations for disease-free areas and populations.

Does not think a local population with some distinct physiological character can properly be designated as a race. Thinks local conditions, not natural selection, responsible for such characters. Ernst Haeckel agrees. Asks CD’s opinion.

Observations on pollinia of Orchis maculata

and on Primula elatior. [On latter, see Forms of flowers, p. 34.]

Dimorphism and cleistogamy in Hottonia.

AG wants new, unambiguous term for what is now referred to as "dimorphism", "dioecio-dimorphism", or "heterostyly"; proposes "heterogone".

Sends an excerpt from Bulletin of Torrey Botanical Club 2 (June 1871) on Hottonia inflata.

He has examined Hoya flowers with Bentham and Oliver, but they are not satisfied about the five processes alternating with the sepals. [See Forms of flowers, pp. 331–2.] Sends specimens of plants.

Babington’s surprise at JDH’s advocacy of Darwinian views at Norwich [BAAS meeting].

Criticism of the behaviour of the trustees of the British Museum [in the Challenger affair].

Asked C. E. Bessey whether Lithospermum longiflorum was dimorphic like its relatives. Encloses CEB’s reply.

Sends "worm journal" – observations of earthworm activity at Abinger.

Messrs Clowes will make CD’s corrections and adjust index of Cross and self-fertilisation. Of this work only 1500 copies have been printed. Edition is sold out and account is enclosed.

Of 500 copies of Climbing plants [2d ed.] printed in June 1876, 450 were still unsold as of June 1877.

AG’s review of Joseph Cook ["Lectures on biology", New Englander 37: 100–13].

Encourages CD to work at heliotropism.

Thinks Thomas Meehan is as "rattle-brained" as Joseph Cook.

[A damaged fragment cut from this letter is pinned to 11051.]

Has been investigating nutational movements of climbing plants; comments on the opinions of Julius von Wiesner and Julius Sachs. Remarks on the sleep movements of certain plants and the mechanism of tendril curvature. Is experimenting with Porlieria.

Has visited K. G. Semper’s laboratory.