No summary available.
No summary available.
ARW states that CR's remarks about the snails are very interesting; mentions the "old boys" bones, c. 9-10 years old, ask the Pitt-Rivers Museum to put the cranium together for the Dorchester Museum. Also mentions a great discovery of Miocene or Pliocene man in India and flints found in situ. "Hurrah for the Missing Link!".
ARW will be glad to see Mr Ridley; mentions CR's trip to S W Ireland; Mr Mitten was at Brandon Mountain a few years ago and found most of the rare mosses, but flowering plants were very scarce. Thanks CR for the I. Naturalist, CR's notes on the Megaceros is interesting, also American sponges.
ARW thanks CR for Ping. Grandiflora just received. Asks CR to stay the night on the way to Dorchester, or if not, to make arrangements to meet between [Parkstone] and Dorchester.
ARW leaves at midday on Friday for Switzerland. CR could come tomorrow (Thursday) evening and stay the night. ARW enquires about sleeping carriages, etc., from Bale [sic] to Brussels; is glad CR found something new in Ireland. Thanks for ?Pinguicula which arrived in excellent condition.
ARW will be pleased to see CR and his sister when they come to Parkstone. ARW & Mr Mitten had a good time on the whole in Switzerland. Mr Mitten brought home plants which have filled over 100 pots. ARW was delighted with the signs of glaciation and has material for another anti-?Bonneyite paper.
ARW is proposing to go to Corfe with his daughter and a friend and asks CR to join them. ARW wishes to ask something about Poole Harbour "as to which the Poole people are in a state of frantic terror!".
ARW thanks CR for the map of Bournemouth and for the ?spiranthus which he has planted in the dampest part of his Alpine bed. ARW is sorry not to have the excursion; his daughter and the friend are returning to Liverpool and his wife has a badly inflamed eye. Regarding Poole Harbour, the Poole Corporation and Harbour Board fear the sand banks will be washed away and the harbour ruined and are spending thousands of pounds on sea walls; mentions sand banks and hopes CR might be able to give an opinion on the subject.
ARW has written nothing on the burial, as has found nothing of special interest. Asks CR to keep the specimens and give them with the bones to the Dorchester Museum. Arranges to meet the following Saturday. Saw CR's interesting note relating to the ?Rooks and the acorns.
As CR is attending meetings of the Geological Society, ARW wants to know about gases in glacier water - have they been ascertained and can CR give an authority on the subject. Has been busy with orchids; writing his article on the Aar gorge; has an invitation to lecture in Davos Platz from Dr Lund; makes an enquiry as to whether workers in the Orchid House at Kew exchange duplicates with amateurs.
ARW mentions CR's letter of about a week or two ago about carbonic-acid gas in glacier water, but ARW is writing his article and may not need ?information? He mentions the son of a friend, on a geology course, but in poor health; could he be with Ordinance Surveyors in the field? He is very keen on geology.
ARW informs CR that his friends are pleased with the prospects opened up by his second letter. The friends' name is Coomára Swamy; the young man's mother is a sister of Mr Beeby the botanist, who married a Cingalese [sic] barrister and member of the Ceylon legislature, came here on government business and was knighted. Further description of the family follows. ARW hopes the young man will be well enough to work in the field.
ARW agrees with CR's report and request for the grant to be restored. The phrase about the snake is very vague. ARW sent a copy of the paper on the Gorge of Aar to Dorchester (?CR at Dorchester). ARW had three weeks in Davos and Adelboden. Ridley has sent a large box of orchids.
Rhizomes of mosses; news from Ridley who has seen a white snake in Selangor caves; Mitten's new Crepis species; Hieracia; will send Hoxne Report from British Association meeting; enclosing two (of his) Dorset papers, one relating to Blashenwell, the other not botanical.
ARW sends apologies on not congratulating Clement Reid on his marriage, but congratulates him now. Returns Ridley's letter, also Flower's. Mentions the "white snake". Ridley has sent some more orchids.
ARW will be going for a stroll in the forest with Mr Mitten who is staying with them; they will call in on CR on the way back.
ARW returns a draft report on the caves with one suggestion; attempts to explain the absence of cave fauna. ARW suggests submitting the draft with those remarks to Sir W Flower and to let him decide on the nature of the report.
ARW will be glad to try the Acer seeds; Mr Mitten would try them for Clement Reid. Mentions Loudon's 'Tree and Shrubs Encyclopaedia'. Enquires if Clement Reid has asked Mr Rogers of Southampton about them (the Acer seeds?).
A discussion of Pinus maritima. As to Acer Monspessalanum, Hemsley says it is quite hardy in Britain.
ARW thanks C. R. for the new book on the British Flora. The maple seeds have not come up. ARW has a lot of orchids brought up by young Coomara Swamy and a large lot from the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, and a blue water lily from S Africa. Will is still in America cycling from the Rockies to California.