From Thomas Bell 22 October 1856

My dear Rev Henslow

I sincerely regret my inability to assist you in your present object. If I were in London I would run about & look out for the specimens, and nothing would give me greater pleasure, but I am not likely to be in Town before the 3 ^rd or 4 ^th of November— My collection of oste [illeg.] is gone to Cambridge— & is in D ^r Clark’s possession— it contains a good beavers skeleton also a skeleton of the alpine Hare— (by the bye my nephew thinks the Irish Hare is identical with the Scandinavian species—this is odd enough, as it does not exist in Scotland—)

How cordially should I reciprocate the wish that you were nearer to London, were it not for the good you are now doing at your parish! I have taken your name in vain lately, in the introductory lecture which I had to deliver at the opening of the Session at Gray’s— I am absolutely freed to publish it —in the Lancet— & will if I can send you a copy as it relates to a subject in wh. you are interested—

Ever yours sincerely | Thomas Bell

[P.S.] As to the Mammalia, if no one else will do it I will— but I should think Gray the proper man