Has sent his paper on Echinoidea [see 10373] as a token of his veneration. He tried to address the confusion in knowledge about the different parts of the exoskeleton of the Echinodermata by tracing certain relations of homology not previously noticed. Much more work is required.

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.