Thanks AJWW for his frank and generous criticism. [See 9352.] Having viewed all natural objects under the light of natural selection for more than thirty years, CD thinks it unlikely that any arguments short of demonstration can convince him of error.

Would be glad to hear of a collected edition of his works [in Germany], but has no opinion on how it would sell. Has been surprised to learn that in England some think uniform collected works sell best. Tells JVC his publication plans and other details to guide him on extent of a "collected works".

Descent corrections have been laborious and troublesome.

Sends his MS on Dionaea and hopes it may be useful for JSBS’s lecture ["On the mechanism of the leaf of Dionaea muscipula", Not. Proc. R. Inst. G. B. 7 (1874): 332–5].

Comments on JS’s lecture on evolution ["Address on evolution", Aberdeen Daily Free Press 24 Feb 1874].

Thanks for information about Hedychium. Hopes wings of Sphinx will be found covered with pollen for that will be a fine bit of prophecy from the structure of a flower to special and new means of fertilisation.

Has been at Descent so hard he has done nothing, not even H. Spencer’s answer.

Has not yet read Croll ["Ocean currents", London Edinburgh & Dublin Philos. Mag. 47 (1874): 94–122, 168–90].

Has heard nothing about Carter and Eozoon. Eozoon, he infers, is done for.

Has read Belt [The naturalist in Nicaragua (1874)]: best of all natural history travel books.

Has written to Fritz Müller about leaf-carrying ants.

Hopes to resume work on Drosera.

Etty [Henrietta Litchfield] is helping with Coral reefs [2d ed.]; will JDH lend her his copy?

Heavily correcting sheets for Coral reefs, 2d ed. [1874]. Offers to pay extra printer’s charges.

Asks for THH’s description of brain and skull [of man and apes] for 2d ed. of Descent [supplement to ch. 7].

Asks about Dohrn affair and contributions for Naples station. Doubts subscriptions will be successful.

FEA has expressed CD’s views on the moral sense with remarkable clearness and correctness; his eulogy is magnificent ["Darwin’s theory of conscience and its relation to scientific ethics", Index 12 Mar 1874]. Cannot give a judgment on the essay because he has had "no practice in following abstract and abstruse reasoning".

CD does not see how morality can be "objective and universal". No one would call the maternal bond in lower animals a "moral obligation". When a social animal "becomes in some slight incipient degree" a moral creature "capable of approving or disapproving of its own conduct" do not such obligations remain of a so-called instinctive nature rather than becoming at once moral obligations?

Regrets he cannot visit Oxford.

Comments on sketches in letter from JP [9360].

Thanks for the careful experiments, particularly on organic acids.

Confirms receipt of a book that had been lost by the Post Office (Vol. 1 Der Darwinismus und die Naturforschung Newtons und Cuviers (Darwinism and the natural researches of Newton and Cuvier; Wigand 1874–7).

Petition to protect gigantic tortoises on the Mascarene.

Encloses a circular [9384?] to explain the predicament he is in. Asks whether AG can get anyone at the British Museum, other than Owen, to join J. E. Gray in signing.

Believes the account of the Mallotus in American Naturalist [5 (1871): 119] is trustworthy.

Thanks for JL’s willingness to sell land.

Wants some plants for observation and for experimentation on their powers of movement.

Asks WTT-D to make observations on plants with sensitive stamens or pistil.

Has finished corrections for 2d edition of Descent – "as hard work as I have ever had in my life". Estimates it is 40 pages longer than 1st edition.

Subscribes to a reprint of Pieter Boddaert’s Table des planches enluminéez d’histoire naturelle [check ‘éez’!?] [1874].

Many thanks for Boddaert [see 9389].

Comments on J. T. Moggridge’s article on the fertilisation of Fumaria capreolata [Nature 9 (1874): 423].