From Asa Gray   18 November 1867

Cambridge Mass,

Nov. 18, 1867

My Dear Darwin

I was rejoiced by your favor of Oct. 16, and the sheets of the new book up to p. 336 (sign Y)1 Thus far I have read only dogs & cats 2—but expect soon to have some hours in a rail-way carriage— then, if not before, I shall read it up. I do not care to read it in driblets, bit by bit. But I shall be all ready for the treat you promise me in vol. 2nd,—“semi-theology” and all.3

Thanks for the facts about locusts’ dung,—which I read to Wyman.4 We hope you mean to print it.5

No time to write more now.—

Ever Your | A. Gray

1
CD had sent proof-sheets of most of the first volume of Variation to Gray with his letter of 16 October [1867]. Signature Y was pages 321 to 336 of the first volume.
2
The first chapter of Variation is ‘Domestic dogs and cats’ (Variation 1: 15–48).
3
In his letter to Gray, 16 October [1867], CD wrote that Variation ended with a ‘semi-theological paragraph’ in which he quoted and disagreed with Gray. See letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 February [1867], n. 7.
5
The information about the germination of grass seeds taken from the locust dung was added to Origin 5th ed., p. 439.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5682,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5682