Thanks JM for bill for £480 and sends receipt. Number of copies differs in note and in receipt (2500 and 2000, respectively). Not surprised sale is slackening; number printed was bold. Reminds JM to advertise "with additions and corrections".

Will consult JM on illustrations for Variation.

Thanks RC for "Ice and water" [in RC’s Edinburgh papers (1861)].

Comments on problem of scientific accuracy.

Discusses views of Thomas Davidson on the genealogy of brachiopods.

Thanks TD for his letter. Difficulties with CD’s theory are many and great, but CD thinks the reason is that we underestimate our ignorance. The imperfection of the geological record counts heavily for CD. His greatest trouble is weighing "the direct effects … of changed conditions of life without any selection, with the action of selection on mere accidental (so to speak) variability. I oscillate much on this head, but generally return to my belief that the direct [effects] … have not been great."

Is surprised that any one, like W. B. Carpenter, can go as far as to believe all birds may have descended from one parent, but will not go further and include all the members of the same great division. Such beliefs make "Divine mockeries" of morphology and embryology, the most important of all subjects.

Thanks W. H. Fitch for drawing for the Primula paper. Death of experimental plants delays publication.

Has received the shipment of skeletons of fowls. Asks TCE species name of Gungla cock. Mentions other specimens.

Regrets the error in the bill and receipt. CD is surprised at so large a reduction in profit in the last edition.

Asks how many wild Chillingham cattle are killed each year. Interested in rate of increase.

Information is sought from correspondents regarding the mental powers of Polish and other tufted fowls. CD finds it hard to believe that the protuberance of the front part of the skull, which is accompanied by a change in the shape of the brain, would not produce a change in mental powers. References to Bechstein, Pallas, and Tegetmeier regarding the stupid behaviour of these birds.

CD is unable to locate his specimens of two Falkland Island birds [Opetiorhynchus].

Discusses results of his examination of fowls’ skeletons. Wants to quote TCE on variation in skeletons of allied species. Asks about skulls of birds with topknots.

CD is obliged for the offer, but he is "too much occupied to contribute to any periodicals".

Acknowledges receipt of promissory note for £372 from JM for third edition of Origin.

Discusses family and domestic matters.

Thanks for information about natural increase of Chillingham cattle. Compares with case in Paraguay.

Asks D. Beaton whether varieties of the same species of Compositae frequently cross by insect agency or other means. Do the raisers of hollyhocks have to keep each variety separate for raising seed?

Asks TCE to confirm some general statements on resemblances in skeletons of birds of same genus.

Henslow’s long suffering.

Donald Beaton’s articles in Cottage Gardener clever but not to be trusted.

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.]

Henslow’s death.

What a contrast C. C. Babington will be as Professor of Botany at Cambridge.

Beaton not to be trusted.

CD may switch from Athenæum to London Review & Wkly J. Polit.

Acknowledges receipt of £239 9s. 7d.