AG’s article in Nature was "just and moderate".

Sends his review of C. Hodge’s What is Darwinism? (1874) [Nation 18 (1874): 348–51].

It is uphill work making a theist out of CD.

Gives further observations on Sarracenia variolaris.

Writes of his article in Nature. Corrects some errors that have appeared in the published version.

Remarks on his work on Pinguicula. Notes its digestive power; it absorbs nutritious matter from leaves and seeds as well as insects.

Thanks for Sarracenia, which is as wonderful as any orchid.

Asks AG to observe Pinguicula.

Has read AG’s semi-theological review [Nation 18 (1874): 348–51] with interest

and has obtained the book [C. Hodge, What is Darwinism? (1874)].

JDH explains he has not written to Asa Gray recently because he is particularly busy during the absence of his aide, William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, who is at South Kensington. JDH is working on a botanical primer for the Macmillan series & doing experiments for himself & Charles Darwin on insectivorous or carnivorous plants: Cephalotes, Nepenthes & Sarracenia. Has neglected work on GENERA PLANTARUM. Has had difficulty getting good systematic contributions for the FLORA INDICA, Thiselton-Dyer & Hiern did good work but Edgeworth, Masters, Andrews & Lawson all needed a lot of correction. Tells Gray about his trip to Florence, Italy for a Congress, run badly by Filippo Parlatore who JDH calls a Tragopogon [also known as 'goatsbeard'] & a 'little toad'. During the trip he saw the Miss Horners, Bakle & his wife, & Mrs Harvey. He also went to Paris, Nimes, Montpelier, Antibes, Hanbury's brother's place near Montara, Genoa, Spezzie [La Spezia] & Pisa & returned via Venice, the Brenner [Pass] Munich & Paris. [Letter appears incomplete. It bears no signature but is written in the hand of Joseph Dalton Hooker.]

No summary available.

JDH thanks Asa Gray for his letter of 27 Aug. Mentions spiral vessels. Comments on English knowledge of foreign developments, comparing his systematic botany to the German way. Will be glad of a copy of Valron's[?] Index. Has received the Thistles & Torrey's sheets by Dix. Praises Belfast meeting, particularly lectures by [Thomas Henry] Huxley & [John] Lubbock. Apologises that Farlow's paper was not acknowledged. JDH is sending Gray a copy of his Belfast address, it will be published in THE PROCEEDINGS. Notices of Edwards' observations have been omitted in CURTIS'S BOTANICAL MAGAZINE, JDH implies because of a quarrel. JDH has stayed out of the Linnean Society row but is embroiled in conflict with [William] Carruthers who has complained to the Admiralty, in the name of the British Museum Trustees & through the Librarian Mr Winter Jones, that JDH has not been sharing botanical collections. Including unfounded appeals about the Welwitch collection, collections made by [William] Purdie & [Charles] Wilford, & JDH's own Antarctica collections; which were shared with Captain [James Clark] Ross. It is part of the campaign by Carruthers & [Richard] Owen to undermine JDH's position as a British Museum Trustee. Haveley[?] has also been drawn into the dispute. The illiberal museum policy is the real reason none of the Public Offices send specimens there. 'Old Gray' [John Edward Gray] will retire & be replaced by Gunther but Owen will not go until he has moved the [natural history] collection to the new building [Natural History Museum]. The natural history trusteeship, comprised of JDH, Duke of Devonshire, Duke of Argyll, Viscount Eversley, Sir P. Egerton, Sir G. Burrows is ignored. Thanks Gray for Fremontia seed, shared with [Gustave Adolphe] Thuret & [Thomas] Hanbury. He will continue to send seed to Bolander through the Smithsonian. Advises that Baker will send Refugia[?] & JDH will pay Leeman. Asks what lower Cryptogams of Wilkes' voyage have been published.

No summary available.

Cannot help with Pinguicula or Utricularia. Mrs Mary Treat is studying Utricularia.

Forwards his short piece on duration of varieties [New York Tribune 8 Dec 1874; Am. J. Sci. 3d ser. 9 (1875): 109–14].

Read AG’s article [see 9753] on longevity and duration of varieties with great interest.

Death of Mrs Hooker.

Hopes Insectivorous plants will be out in the spring.

JDH is behind with correspondence as usual, he has been promised some assistance by the Treasury. He thanks Asa Gray for delicate notice of JDH's wife. States Romneya seeds are acceptable. Describes the recent poor health of [Charles] Lyell, including epileptic fits. Mentions books for the Linnean & Horticultural Societies. Sargent has written & JDH has received his trees. Expresses how touched he is by Mrs Gray's letter to his sister. Notes Sechium is: 'all right'. The Catalogue of Scientific Papers is on the agenda for the next Library[?] meeting. From what Henry has written JDH is not clear whether the collections of [William] Jameson were bought or lent. Jameson died on the road from Guayaquil to Quito, he was over 80 & did not have sufficient money or food for the trip. Jameson's family did not support his botanising, he had family in Quito & Dundee & his representative is probably a son who was living in Chile. JDH asks that this letter be forwarded to Miss Grace Ellis, a friend of Tyndale. Tyndale has sent JDH some "wood-hangings".

Asks AG to forward [unspecified] enclosure to Chauncey Wright.

JDH informs Asa Gray that he is very busy & feeling the weight of his responsibilities. Hs main concern is [his daughter] Harriet Hooker's health. She will be sent to the South of France, probably to stay with friends in Cannes, later JDH will join her & they will travel to Algiers to visit Colonel Playfair. JDH & Playfair will make a tour of Algiers from April to May [1875]. JDH's Aunt, Mrs Dawson Turner of Liverpool, will keep the house whilst JDH is away. Her children have been guests of JDH as they have no house, their father Dawson William Turner is in confinement but will soon be out & JDH hopes to send him on a long voyage 'to secure his health'. JDH has found that Elliottia is synonymous with Tripetaleia of Japan. He continues to work on GENERA PLANTARUM, currently struggling with Sapotaceae. Mentions that Miguel has made omissions of [Richard] Spruce & [George] Gardner in the FLORA BRASILIENSIS. Asks Gray for specimens of Shortia, he has kept it distinct from Schizocodon following [Carl Johann] Maximovicz, whose work he admires. By contrast he does not like the way Baillon works.

JDH has received Asa Gray's letter of 12 Feb [1875]. He reports that his great friend [Sir Charles] Lyell is dead. JDH got up a petition for Lyell's burial in Westminster Abbey, signed by fellows of the Royal, Linnean & Geological Societies, & Stanley has as good as offered this honour. Lyell's brother died 3 weeks earlier. Mentions Gray's rheumatism. Dismisses Mrs Sullivant & advises Gray to do the same. Gray's request for catalogues of scientific papers has not yet come before the Royal Society Library Committee. JDH is sending Gray's herbarium [Harvard University Herbarium] a copy as a gift from himself, the cost will be more than covered by the sale of Gay's duplicate specimens so he will also send the SYNOPSIS FILICUM & Plate III of FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA. Accepts Gray's offer of Jamaican plants, though he cannot be certain they are new. [George] Bentham seems well but is plagued by sudden attacks of diarrhoea. In an additional annotation JDH mentions the [William] Carruthers affair & that: 'Nathaniel Lindley is Counsel for the King'.

Wants seeds of Nesaea verticillata for crossing experiments to see whether seedlings from "illegitimate unions" are sterile like true hybrids.

No summary available.

Has received but not yet read Insectivorous plants.

JDH informs Asa Gray that he has just visited his friend from Nepal, Brian Houghton Hodgson & also his sister in law Mrs Barnard. William Turner Thiselton-Dyer has been organising books & manuscripts at RBG Kew. JDH thanks Gray for his criticisms on GENERA PLANTARUM, specifically mentioning his own & [George] Bentham's work on Vaccinieae & Orabancheae incl Hypopithys, various Andromeda species, oxycoccos & whether Gaylussacia is a natural genus. Asks for Gray to clarify his stance on whether Orobanche should be made a separate order or part of Ericaceae. JDH has been assured by Bureau & Decaisne that there is no Pleuricospora in Borgeau's Mexican collection. Agrees that Gray, not Lindley, should have been acknowledged under Diapensiaceae, though it is a weak order that JDH considered putting into Ericaceae. JDH does not agree with Gray's desire to be acknowledged under Galax. JDH, Thiselton-Dyer, Oliver & Baker were all unaware of Gray's conspectus of Mertensia & JDH complains that he cannot be expected to keep up with all of Gray's extensive work. Thanks Gray for seeds of Arctostaphylos bicolor. Hopes Jackson & plant case have arrived. Harriet [Hooker later Thiselton-Dyer, Hooker's daughter] & co will return from Boulogne the following week. Harriet is generally a good housekeeper but as she is pretty she is asked out a lot & is 'too lazy to take the lead as head of the house' JDH is kept very busy with family matters & is glad to have the help of Mrs Turner & a cousin who will recommence their stay with the Hooker's once returned from Boulogne.

AG’s notices of Insectivorous plants [Nation 22 (1876): 12–14, 30–2]

and Climbing plants [2d ed., Am. J. Sci. 3d ser. 11 (1876): 69–74].

Use of flower peduncles for support in Maurandia. Transition from branches to tendrils.

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.