Asks CD to send W. R. Grove titles and place of publication of the Müller [Für Darwin (1864)] and Walsh (Walsh 1864–5) papers he referred to in his address [BAAS lecture at Nottingham, see 5135].

Lyell’s volume [Principles, 10th ed.] received.

"We must now keep him straight anent origin and development."

Some of Spencer’s new part is interesting but much is dull and ponderous.

Huxley’s Elementary physiology [1866].

Has finished his New Zealand manual [Handbook of New Zealand flora (1864–7)]. New Zealand flora [and past geological conditions] suggest islands were once connected.

Speculates on the total amount of living organised matter on the globe, and whether it varies.

Balfour Stewart on sunspots.

Is sending some plants and seeds to JDH.

Thanks Mrs Hooker for telling him of a life of his grandfather [Erasmus Darwin] of which he had not heard.

A confounded cock ground the crimson seeds up so CD could not find them in its excrement. CD is puzzled by how seeds can be disseminated if merely ground up by birds. Perhaps like acorns from seeds accidentally dropped by birds?

A woodcock’s leg with dry clay clinging to it, from which CD has grown a microscopical rush.

Spencer would have been wonderful if he had trained himself to observe more.

On New Zealand flora and connection with Australia.

Difficulty of speculating about the amount of organic chemical change at different periods.

Plants arrived.

Delightful dinner at Lyell’s.

Will be interested in seeds passed through a fowl.

Wedgwood medallions were bought by a Miss W. [Sophy Wedgwood] of Leith Hill.

Lubbock’s account of a new centipede at Linnean Society gave rise to lively discussion by Busk and Huxley.

Scarlet seed is Adenanthera pavonina. JDH’s suggestion on how disseminated.

On Herbert Spencer, "all oil no bone – a thinking pump", but his paper on sap and wood [Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 25 (1866): 405–30] is good science. His refusal to bring a specimen for analysis when confronted by JDH.

Bentham and Martin disagreement.

Speculations on New Zealand flora.

Albert Günther’s paper on fishes on each side of Isthmus of Panama [Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1866): 600–4].

On the quantity (bulk and weight) of organic life [matter].

Has finished Variation. May insert a chapter on man.

Still puzzled by seeds of Adenanthera.

New Zealand and Borneo flora problems continued.

Fritz Müller found six genera of dimorphic plants in one day.

Analysis of New Zealand flora; proportion of indigenous annuals.

Uniform climates are poor in species.

Evergreen and deciduous vegetation: relationship to flora and fauna.

B. J. Sulivan offers fossil leaves from Eocene beds at Bournemouth to CD or JDH. Does JDH want them, or should they go to Oswald Heer?

Has written to Athenæum [see 5308] about publishers cutting pages of their books.

Suggests fossil leaves go to Heer.

Agrees with CD on cut pages in books.