Thanks RLT for his work, Diseases of women.

CD is also interested by RLT’s letter reporting a cat rearing chickens. "What a wonderful instinct is the maternal one."

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

Discusses David Milne’s Glen Roy paper ["On the parallel roads of Lochaber", Trans. R. Soc. Edinburgh 16 (1849): 395–418]. Rejects Milne’s theory that outlet of Glen Roy is blocked by detritus. Impressed by Milne’s discovery of an outlet at the level of the second shelf. Believes this strengthens theory that lakes were formed by glacier blocking Glen Roy. Offers arguments against glacier theory.

Pleased the Senate has passed Grace conferring his LL.D.

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.]

James Caird does not think Torbitt’s success justifies application to Government. Torbitt has four acres planted with seedlings. Has sent back CD’s £100. Shall CD insist that he keep it?

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.

Notes Julius Sachs’s opinion on the heliotropism of moulds: he can see no use in the response.

C. E. Stahl is working on swarm spores which can be made both helio- and apheliotropic.

Sachs has told him that some ferns sleep, and he suspects that some grasses may move.

Sachs also feels they may be working at bloom from a wrong point of view and suggests leaves may need to keep dry in order to keep their stomata open.

Oxalis seeds incorrectly named. H. N. Moseley says pigeons in Malaya eject seeds fit for germination.

There is a hyacinth growing upside down in Hankinson’s garden. Sends picture of it. Leslie Stephen knows of no worthwhile sources of information on Dr Erasmus Darwin.

Sends an enclosure [a statement of CD’s finances and estimate of the inheritance his children may expect] for HD and Ida to read; CD very pleased to be able to leave his children comfortably provided for.

Has read Butler’s letter and CD’s draft reply and Litchfield’s letter. Has no hesitation in saying CD should take no notice. Litchfield’s advice is judicious.

Worm-castings. Encloses notes about worm activities at Gravetye Manor.

Receiving deputation gave CD pleasure.

Forster cannot help at present. Is sending copies of an enclosure [missing] to Downing Street.

Writes on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury to invite CD to a private conference organised in an attempt to reconcile science and religion. [Enclosed is a printed two-page memorial calling for such a conference.]

Encloses reply to Butler [Kosmos 8 (1881): 321–2]. Has also written a reply intended for English reader. Will have it translated for Popular Science Review if CD thinks suitable.

Report of Jäger accident was an error.

Kosmos has been purchased by Eduard Koch in Stuttgart and will continue as in the past.

Questions on variation in nature: taxa varying in one region but not another. Variation between vs within species. Rarity of variation in important organs within a species. G. R. Waterhouse’s views on variation in highly developed organs, which CD relates to variation in rudimentary organs.

Asks for cases of obligate self-fertilising plants.

[CD annotation proposes using the Steudel Nomenclator botanicus (1821–4) to determine if variable species occur in genera with many species.]

Indigenous domestic animals of the New World.

Relationship of Newfoundland and Esquimo dogs to the wolf. Dogs like the Esquimo occur in Tibet and Siberia. Indian pariah dogs and jackals occasionally interbreed.

Describes domestic cats of India; reports cases of their interbreeding with wild cats. Wild cats are tamed for hunting.

Races of silkworm in India are crossed [see 1690].

Domesticated plants, fish, and birds of India.

Comments on local races and species of crows; it is impossible to trace a line of demarcation between races and species.

Variation in the ability of hybrids to propagate.

Indian cattle breeds; differences between Bos indicus and Bos taurus.

Is not satisfied that aboriginally wild species of horse and ass exist.

Believes all fancy breeds of pigeon originated in the East. Wild ancestors of pigeons, ducks, geese, and fowls. Interbreeding of wild species of pheasant.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]

Sends a skeleton of a Bengal jungle cock.

Has never heard of trained otters breeding in captivity.

Introduced domestic rabbits are confined to the ports of India.

Canaries and other tame finches and thrushes brought into India do not breed well.

Origin of the domestic canary. Tendency of domesticated birds to produce "top-knot" varieties.

The tame geese of lower Bengal are hybrids; those of upper Bengal are said to be pure Anser cygnoides.

Wild Anser cinereus occur in flocks in the cold season.

Discusses at length different breeds of domestic cats and possible wild progenitors. Wild and domestic cats occasionally interbreed. The Angora variety breeds freely with the common Bengal cat and all stages of intermediates can be found.

Believes pigeons have been bred in India since remote antiquity.

Discusses whether mankind is divided into races or distinct species.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]