Attributes the Castilian accent of speech of deaf and dumb men to imitation of their teachers’ lip movements.

Thanks CD for his advice. No doubt one may be misled by a few experiments in matters on which many forces come into play. Describes his plans to observe the flowering of 23 plants of Lychnis gilhago raised from a single capsule.

Gives an example of atavism in American cattle.

Was CD already convinced of evolution when he published Journal of researches?

Photograph album will be late coming.

Evolutionary magazine to appear in March under title of Kosmos.

Thanks for Cross and self-fertilisation.

His work on poppy varieties confirms increased vigour with crossing.

JS is carrying out opium poppy experiments CD suggested. He is busy with opium duties. Observing many fields of poppies, day and night, JS finds them remarkably free of insects. Believes they are wind-pollinated and that varieties have prepotent pollen since he has shown they do not cross naturally.

Plans to send a paper on Cyclosis to Linnean Society.

Comments on CD’s Cross and self-fertilisation: its usefulness to florists, and his solution of a long standing puzzle in showing the increase of monstrosities in self-fertilised plants.

Wants to know how to obtain The thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, mentioned in Descent [1: 106].

Is unconvinced that correction in Cross and self-fertilisation requested by CD [see 10852] should be made. Asks CD to reconsider.

Encloses his translation of a draft letter from his friend Franz von Rekowsky [see 10855], who is German Consular Secretary at Messina.

Reports a bluebell monster.

Response to Cross and self-fertilisation, reviewed in Spectator.

JDH reports on Frank’s reading of his Dipsacus paper at the Royal Society. Huxley slept through much of it, but JDH is well pleased with it.

Has read in the newspapers about the album of photographs of German scientists sent in tribute to CD. His name and photograph are missing only because he was not asked to participate. CC assures CD he is one of his ardent supporters.

Thanks for Orchids [2d ed.].

Does not feel his abstract of Cross and self-fertilisation [Am. J. Sci. 3d ser. 13 (1877): 125–41] was thorough enough.

Has heard of their sad bereavement last autumn [death of Amy, wife of Francis Darwin].

Asks CD to publish in Nature JGFR’s observation that natives of Hainan have movable tail bones up to 4 cm long.

As editor of the new journal, Kosmos, thanks CD for the permission he has granted Ernst Haeckel to publish with CD’s approval.

Cites his long support for evolution as exemplified by his book [Die botanische Systematik in ihrem Verhältniss zur Morphologie (1866)].

CD has many German supporters.

Congratulates CD on testimonials from the savants of Germany and the Netherlands [Nature 15 (1877): 356, 410–12] and generally on his contributions to biology.

Asks if and when CD’s "Variability of organic beings in a state of nature", as projected in 1868 [see Variation 1: 4] is to appear.

Discusses the cleistogamous flowers of Oxalis. Thinks they may not be truly cleistogamous but merely arrested or imperfectly developed normal flowers.

Sends belated birthday greetings

and an archaeological pamphlet.

Asks for CD’s autograph.

Fertilisation of orchids. Believes some plants so constituted as to dispense with cross-fertilisation.

Thinks flowers of Hottonia project from the stem nearly horizontally, perhaps slightly upwards.

Sorry that he cannot help with Pulmonaria angustifolia.