CD’s doubts on biography of Henslow. Writing recollections of Cambridge days at JDH’s request.

Thanks BJS for account of Mendoza earthquake.

FitzRoy sent CD the last London Review [& Weekly J. Polit.] and he read the article on Genesis, but feels it is an attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable.

Is obliged to Mr Bennett for information, the same relayed through Consul General Mr Crowe.

CD is interested in information that provides insight into the colour of the aboriginal horse and the possibility that the offspring of a cross between differently-coloured breeds revert to the colour of the aboriginal parent. He has examined crosses between pigeons for this purpose and would welcome any analogous facts resulting from crossing of distinct breeds.

Has heard, through Lubbock, of a gentleman who is offering a partnership in a bank.

Discusses the possibility of a banking job for William [Darwin]; wishes to meet JL to discuss the prospects.

Bearer brings three Porto Santo rabbits. Will ADB keep them and see whether they can be crossed with some other breed? CD believes they have become much reduced in size and modified in colour since their introduction into the island.

Discusses the opportunity for WED to become a partner in a bank.

Requests that exotic species of Vinca, which never set seed at Kew, be fertilised by pressing a fine bristle between anthers as a moth would its proboscis.

Asks that Primula farinosa be sent.

Thanks Mr Beaton for his answer [to 3147].

Asks further questions on points raised in Beaton’s previous papers: whether crossing white and blue varieties of Anemone apennina produced many pale shades; whether the Mathiola incana and M. glabra which crossed freely were artificially or naturally crossed.

CD is delighted by Beaton’s assertion that "not a flower in a thousand is fertilised by its own immediate pollen".

Recounts his experiments with Leschenaultia formosa to show insect fertilisation.

Thanks President and Council of Ethnological Society for his election.

Has completed MS on poultry [for Variation].

Thanks for information on their courtship.

Thanks for railway map.

Surprised about Richard Owen: "I thought his courage was as indomitable as his malignity."

Sends extract [Sir John Herschel, "Physical geography", from the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1861)].

Has written recollections of Henslow [Collected papers 2: 72–4].

Thanks WBT for information on pigeons and poultry.

Is grateful for the present of JH's Physical Geography. Is pleased also with JH's note on his own book on species. Comments on some of the theories expressed in this work.