Thanks WDF for an inkstand that keeps ink from getting muddy.

Asks if WDF can verify truth of a statement that white sows carry their young for a longer or shorter time (CD forgets which) than other colours. Presumes it is false, "but many odd peculiarities are correlated with colour".

CD’s opinion of minor critics and commentators on Origin.

H. C. Watson’s notion of genera converging is dismissed.

Thinks third edition of Origin should advertise "additions and corrections", for the additions are important. They will add 30 pages to the book; there will also be a short historical sketch. Asks for some copies for friends.

Also curious to know how Journal of researches has sold. The new issue seemed a rash venture to him.

Orders one pint of tincture of henbane.

Is glad AG will publish [pamphlet of his reviews of Origin]. Insists on bearing the costs. Encloses list of institutions and individuals to whom he would send copies.

Writes of Henrietta’s illness.

Quotes passage from letter from Asa Gray dealing with views of Francis Bowen on heredity and Agassiz "(foolish man)" on heredity and languages.

Sent CL the Calcutta Review [with Edward Blyth’s review of Origin, 35 (1860): 64–88].

Is obliged for WBT’s "curious case". Discusses the effects of castration on development.

Can there be any truth in account of rattlesnakes fascinating their prey? Structure of rattle complex.

Fears it will be impossible to show gradation among other snakes.

Has JW seen Robert McDonnell’s article on electrical organ in skate ["On an organ in the skate", Nat. Hist. Rev. (1861): 57–60]?

Thanks for observations on Vespidae. Particularly values such cases of variation.

Changes in admission to Athenaeum.

Slowly working at his volume on Variation.

Experiments on insectivorous and "sensitive" plants.

Henrietta’s continuing poor health. JDH’s suggestion to rub her with cod-liver oil.

Discusses the possible explanation of why fly-orchid plants in a correspondent’s garden had no pollen-masses removed while Orchis maculata had all of its pollen-masses removed. CD points out that different orchids are fertilised by different insects. The insects needed to fertilise the fly-orchid may not have inhabited the site of the correspondent’s garden.

Gives notice of returning books by a carrier and thanks for assistance.

Asks whether Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville’s Ostéographie (1839–64) includes rabbits or hares.

Asks for advice about the mortgage to Major Owen for £20,000.

Variations in nature arise from unknown causes, accidentally or spontaneously, and are preserved by natural selection if beneficial.

Wishing to purchase a copy of Ferguson’s illustrated series of rare and prize poultry, including comprehensive essays upon all classes of domestic fowl (Ferguson 1854).

Chauncey Wright’s review of Origin: A. Gray asks that THH append a list of philosophical books on subject if he accepts it for Natural History Review.

Sends Gray’s pamphlet of his (republished) reviews [Natural selection not inconsistent with natural theology (1861)] for notice.

Thanks for information about Major Owen’s mortgage.

Distribution of AG’s pamphlet.

Insectivorous plants.

Informs AG of his [CD’s] notice on Pumilio in Gardeners’ Chronicle [5 Jan 1861; Collected papers 2: 36–8].

Asa Gray’s pamphlet.

Ill health.