My dear Lyell,
Thanks about "Bears" (See 'Origin,' edition i., page 184.), a word of ill-
omen to me.

I am too unwell to leave home, so shall not see you.

I am very glad of your remarks on Hooker. (Sir C. Lyell wrote to Sir J.D.
Hooker, December 19, 1859 ('Life,' ii. page 327): "I have just finished
the reading of your splendid Essay [the 'Flora of Australia'] on the origin
of species, as illustrated by your wide botanical experience, and think it
goes very far to raise the variety-making hypothesis to the rank of a
theory, as accounting for the manner in which new species enter the
world.") I have not yet got the essay. The parts which I read in sheets
seemed to me grand, especially the generalization about the Australian
flora itself. How superior to Robert Brown's celebrated essay! I have not
seen Naudin's paper ('Revue Horticole,' 1852. See historical Sketch in the
later editions of the 'Origin of Species.'), and shall not be able till I
hunt the libraries. I am very anxious to see it. Decaisne seems to think
he gives my whole theory. I do not know when I shall have time and
strength to grapple with Hooker...

P.S.--I have heard from Sir W. Jardine (Jardine, Sir William, Bart., 1800-
1874, was the son of Sir A. Jardine of Applegarth, Dumfriesshire. He was
educated at Edinburgh, and succeeded to the title on his father's decease
in 1821. He published, jointly with Mr. Prideaux, J. Selby, Sir Stamford
Raffles, Dr. Horsfield, and other ornithologists, 'Illustrations of
Ornithology,' and edited the 'Naturalist's Library,' in 40 volumes, which
included the four branches: Mammalia, Ornithology, Ichnology, and
Entomology. Of these 40 volumes 14 were written by himself. In 1836 he
became editor of the 'Magazine of Zoology and Botany,' which, two years