C. V. Riley’s case of Pronuba moth and the fertilisation of Yucca, is the most wonderful case of fertilisation ever published [Am. Nat. 7 (1873): 619–23].

JDH informs Brian Hodgson that Lord Carnarvon [the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert] has offered him a knighthood; Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, in recognition of his service to the Colonies. JDH has not sought a knighthood & previously rejected one when offered. This particular honour, as it relates to his colonial work in the name of his Father [William Jackson Hooker] & the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, would be highly prized by JDH. He accepted K.C.M.G. once before only to be later refused the honour by Government, it is now a different Government so Hooker will take no malicious pleasure in refusing the honour this time. Nevertheless JDH will refuse the K.C.M.G. as it is a lesser honour than has been awarded to past Presidents of the Royal Society who were made members of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.

No summary available.

JDH has not replied to Asa Gray's letters earlier as he has been busy with Linnean & Royal Society business & there has been illness in the family, including whooping cough & measles. Mentions his 'presidential Soiree', which was very well attended, including by Charles Darwin. Also mentions selecting new candidates for the Royal Society. Explains his reasons for declining further offers of knighthood, at this point he feels he can only accept an offer of K.C.B. [Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath] as recognition of his Presidency of the Royal Society. Has received Paris Lambertii[sic] & Abies Alba & hopes Gray has got the Thistles. Comments that one Miss Kingsley is very engaging, that his sister Bessy [Elizabeth] is melancholic, that he likes one Mr Eliott, & asks about Gray's duties as a member of the Smithsonian Institution Board. Discusses George Bentham distancing himself from the Linnean Society & its resultant decline. [George] Allman will be the next President of the Linnean Society. JDH describes his busy schedule on Royal Society Council meeting days. Whilst he is away [Sir Richard] Strachey & [Sir Andrew Crombie] Ramsay will take the Chair. Thanks Gray for a postal order & apologises for not thanking Ross for some apples. Mentions Mrs Gray's fall & recovery. Tyndale wants JDH to take Presidency of the British Association at Belfast, his inaugural address will be on insectivorous plants: the effect of Carbonate of Ammonia on Nepenthes, specifically on glands in the pitcher. Promises to send Gray 'the Wedgewood medallion'. Explains that a Miss James referred to a portrait of Linnaeus but it was not by Flaxman who worked very little for Wedgewood.

[Letter in French, transcript available in French and English]. JDH writes that he is sending Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] a corrected copy of the [KEW ANNUAL] REPORT & leaves it to WTTD's discretion when it is ready to send to the printers. JDH & his party travelled to Nimes by rail via the mountains from Clermont Ferrand & JDH was impressed by the basalt landscape, which he describes. The vegetation is not more advanced than in England but the trees coming into leaf were attractive. JDH wonders why there is so much variation in the colour of different species' young leaves but not their mature foliage. In the southern valleys JDH saw olive, wild chestnut & evergreen oak. JDH praises the Jardine de Plantes, Paris, which [Joseph] Decaisne showed them. JDH discusses [Adolphe] Brogniart's views on palaeobotany; his opinion that [William] Williamson's theories are superior to [William] Caruthers' & his belief that there are no Polypodiaceae fossils in the coal beds. The party will next visit [Jules Emile] Planchon in Montpellier then go to Pont du Gard, Arles, Cannes, to see Mr [Gustave-Adolph] Thuret in Antibes & [Daniel] Hanbury in Menton. There is an addenda to the letter, written in English, under date 30 [Apr 1874] in which JDH reiterates the places they have visited & reports that he read about the resignation of G. Russell in GALIGNANI'S MESSENGER & that he himself is still mildly ill with a cough.