JDH informs Asa Gray that he is writing to Waldo Ross to thank him for a barrel of apples. JDH has received Gray's letter of 6 Dec [1875] & thanks him for a second copy of AESTIVATION AND TERMINOLOGY. JDH agrees with Gray regarding the importance of keeping [herbarium] material out of bad hands. He praises Decaisne's Pirus essay & Gray's notes in it, but notes that [Henri Ernest] Baillon has inserted a mistake into Decaisne's work; regarding the position of ovules. JDH dismisses Baillon's HISTOIRE [DES PLANTES] & calls his work on Phytolacceae a poor rehash of a bad work by Moquin-Tandon. JDH is puzzled what to do with Stegnosperma. He & George Bentham[GB] have decided to keep up Paronychieae [in GENERA PLANTARUM] & put Limeum & Gisekia [Gisechia] into Mollugineae. JDH has done Nyotaginea & had a dreadful task with Mirabilis Oxybaphus & co. But with GB's agreement kept Mirabilis for the big flowers & Oxybaphus for the small as a poor compromise. He offers to send Gray the glossary. He thinks Gray's varieties of O. cervantesii are both good distinct species. JDH is now working on Paronychieae & GB on Labiatae. Acanthaceae is being printed, to be followed by Verbenaceae. In response to Gray's entreaty JDH states he cannot visit him in the USA as he has 6 children to deal with. Hardy will go to New York in July & JDH would like to visit Gray at that time. Parish lives up to expectations. Diggs has given another grant to print the CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS for 1863-73. GB has recovered from a cold. Munro has settled near Taunton. [Thomas] Thomson has been very ill, he lives near Maidstone. [Charles Robert] Darwin is well, for him.