From J. D. Hooker   [17–23 December 1857]1

Dear Darwin

I am disgusted at remembering suddenly that I had forgotten to send the vols: of DC.—2 I shall send on Thursday by carrier that with Leguminosæ (& others)—for I am really interested in that curious anomaly.3

Bentham I know thinks that he has created too many genera & others far more.—but whether enough to influence the whole Flora is more than I can tell—4

I have begun my Introd: Essay to Tasmania Flora.5 I think I shall confine it to a clear exposition of all the main features of the Flora of Australia & leave all conclusion drawing to others. I find there are already upwards of 100 Europ. plants well naturalize⁠⟨⁠d⁠⟩⁠ in vicinity of Melbourne already.

I send by post 2 tracts from A Gray— I cannot follow Dana’s metaphysical ideas on species.6 What do you say to them

Ever yours | J D Hooker

CD annotations

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3.3 Europ.] crossed pencil
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1
Dated by the relationship to the letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 December [1857], in which CD reported that the books had arrived at Down that morning. The weekly carrier service between London and Down operated on Thursdays. Hooker had been asked to send the books on 16 December (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 December [1857]). Hooker’s mention of sending them ‘on Thursday’ makes Wednesday, 23 December the latest possible day on which this letter could have been written.
2
Candolle and Candolle 1824–73. See letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 December [1857].
3
Hooker refers to CD’s calculations on the order Labiatae (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [6 December 1857]).
4
Bentham 1858.
5
J. D. Hooker 1860. The introductory essay of the Flora Tasmaniæ (J. D. Hooker 1855[–60]) was published separately.
6
The ‘two tracts’ were probably Asa Gray’s review of Arthur Henfrey’s Elementary course on botany (London, 1857) and James Dwight Dana’s ‘Thoughts on species’ (Dana 1857), both of which appeared in the November issue of the American Journal of Science and Arts. Copies of both papers are in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. For CD’s opinion of Dana 1857, see letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 December [1857].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2188,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2188