From Asa Gray   [25 February 1868 or later]1

⁠⟨⁠reprint⁠⟩⁠, your new book,— promise to allow you copy right equivalent— will not wait for electrotypes of the cuts.—2

But they (& I) want you to send a note or two—to go at end, and a preface—a few words—to identify it as your ed. & to secure the market against any other reprint. Send at once any corrections you are making for your 2d ed.3

I noted, with pleasure, your son’s success at Cambridge.4

At my house, a neighbor mentioned a case of man, he knew, born legless—two of whose children were equally so. I am trying to get authentic evidence about it. ⁠⟨⁠section missing⁠⟩⁠

Do you know of dogs which—without ever having been taught, lick their paws and then wash their faces like a cat? A black- & tan we have does so regularly, I know not where he picked up the habit.— he must have inherited it.5

Ever Yours, | A. Gray

Incomplete

CD annotations

1.1 ⁠⟨⁠reprint⁠⟩⁠ … about it. 4.2] crossed pencil
5.1 Do you … regularly, 5.2] double scored blue crayon
End of letter: ‘(Instinct—)’ | ‘Animaux fossile de [Pikermi]’ pencil; ‘Index | London’ ink, crossed ink; ‘Extraordinary kind— *another set of [interl] new sheets—& scored sheets— return latter. A few additions for final note   Preface consult Lyell—’6 ink, crossed ink
1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Asa Gray, 9 February [1868] (Correspondence vol. 24, Supplement), which Gray received on 25 February 1868 (Correspondence vol. 16, letter from Asa Gray, 25 February [1868]). This letter may be part of a continuation of Gray’s letter of 25 February, or it may have been sent separately. It was previously published in Correspondence vol. 8 with the incorrect date of [17 January 1860].
2
Gray was negotiating with the publisher Orange Judd & Co. about the publication of a US edition of Variation. See Correspondence vol. 16, letter from Asa Gray, 24 February 1868.
3
CD had told Gray of the planned second printing of Variation in his letter of 9 February [1868] (Correspondence vol. 24, Supplement). Orange Judd’s edition is based on the second printing, and includes a new preface and three pages of factual corrections dated 28 March 1868 (Freeman 1977; Variation US ed.).
4
George Howard Darwin had come second in the final examinations for the mathematical tripos at Cambridge (see Correspondence vol. 24, Supplement, letter to Asa Gray, 9 February [1868]).
5
The dog was Max and had been born in 1863 at the earliest. See also Correspondence vol. 18, letter from Asa Gray, 14 February 1870, and Correspondence vol. 25, letter from Asa Gray, 27 September 1877.
6
Charles Lyell. CD’s reply to Gray has not been found. CD refers to Albert Gaudry’s Animaux fossiles de Pikermi (Gaudry 1866).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2563,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2563