Will call tomorrow morning.

Congratulates GJR on lecture ["The physiology of the nervous system of Medusa", Not. Proc. R. Inst. G. B. 8 (1875–8): 166–77].

Encloses essay by Haeckel criticising Pangenesis [Die Perigenesis der Plastidule (1876)]. Discusses Haeckel’s theory of inheritance.

Asks about the Physiological Society.

Joseph Fayrer can supply cobra poison.

Discusses vivisection.

Mentions visit to the John Hawkshaws.

Describes discovery by his son [Francis Darwin] of protoplasmic filaments extending from small glands in the leaves of Dipsacus [see Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 26 (1877): 4–8].

Agrees to propose GJR for membership in Royal Society.

Remarks on GJR’s paper on Medusae [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 167 (1877): 659–752].

Discusses certificate proposing GJR as Fellow of Royal Society.

Thanks him for book by Grant Allen [Physiological aesthetics (1877)].

Comments on dispute over spontaneous generation.

The Council [of the Royal Society] will not print Frank Darwin’s paper on Dipsacus [in Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond.].

Mentions GJR’s grafting experiments

and his investigation of spiritualism.

Discusses Francis Darwin’s paper on teasel [Dipsacus].

Comments on GJR’s investigation of spiritualism.

Comments on book by Grant Allen [Physiological aesthetics (1877)].

Invites him to visit

Sends quotation from Lamarck’s Philosophie zoologique [(1809), 2: 318] on effects of habit.

CD is going away and has asked FD to thank GJR for his amusing letter [of 6 June], which CD thinks should be published in Nature. CD thinks the guinea pig theory very probable.

CD thinks there may be something in the ‘veneration’ theory.

Discusses effects of natural selection. Discusses absence of blending between geographical races as a problem. Discusses effect of natural selection on productivity of an organism.

Comments on GJR’s review of Grant Allen’s book [Physiological aesthetics (1877)].

Comments on GJR’s papers in Nature [see 11103].

Mentions manuscript by Miss Lawless on fertilisation in plants.

Discusses work of Francis Darwin on Dipsacus

and his own experiments on Drosera.

Comments on GJR’s paper in Nature.

Comments on GJR’s lecture on evolution.

Regrets failure of graft experiments.

Hopes GJR will not give up on Pangenesis. Mentions article by Gustav Jäger on Pangenesis.

Discusses planting onions for experiment.

CD will call on Tuesday morning.

CD’s gardener says not to sow onion seeds until middle of March. Should he risk sowing them at once?

Sympathises with GJR on dreadful loss [of his sister, Georgina].

Can GJR visit Down?

Onions not yet up.

Regrets that GJR was passed over for membership in Royal Society. Discusses criteria applied by Council.