My dear Hooker

You have shaved the hair off the alpine plants pretty effectually.—¹ The case of the Anthyllis will make a “tie” with the believed case of Pyrenees plants becoming glabrous at low levels.—² If I do find that I have marked such facts, I will lay the evidence before you.— I wonder how the belief c^d. have originated: was it through final causes, to keep the plants warm! Falconer in talk coupled the two facts of woolly alpine plants & mammals.—

How candidly & meekly you took my Jeremiad on your severity to second class men.³ After I had sent it off, an ugly little voice asked me once or twice how much of my noble defence of the poor in spirit & in fact, was owing to your having not seldom smashed favourite notions of my own.— I silenced the ugly little voice with contempt, but it would whisper again & again.— I sometimes despise myself as a poor compiler, as heartily as you could do, though I do not despise my whole work, as I think there is enough known to lay a foundation for the discussion on origin of species.— I have been led to despise & laugh at myself as compiler, for having put down that “alpine plants have large flowers,” & now perhaps I may write over these very words “alpine plants have small or apelatous flowers”!

The most striking case, which I have stumbled on, on apparent but false relation of structure of plants to climate, seems to be Meyers & Dreges remark that there is not one single even moderately sized Family at the Cape of Good Hope which has not one or several species with Heath-like foliage;⁴ & when we consider this together with the number of true Heaths; anyone would have been justified, had it not been for our own British Heaths, in saying that Heath-like foliage must stand in direct relation to a dry & moderately warm climate: Does this not strike you as a good case of false relation?

I am so pleased with this place & the people here, that I am greatly tempted to bring Etty here; for she has not on whole, derived any benefit from Hastings.—⁵

With thanks for your never failing assistance to me— Ever yours | My dear Hooker | C. Darwin

I return home, thanks be to God, on Wednesday.—

I remember that you were surprised at number of seeds germinating in pond mud: I tried a 4^th. Pond, & took about as much mud, (rather more than in former cases) as would fill a very large breakfast cup, & before I had left home 118 plants had come up; how many more will be up on my return I know not.—⁶ This bears on chance of Birds by their muddy feet transporting F.W. plants.—

It w^d. not be a bad dodge for a collector in country, when plants were not in seed, to collect & dry mud from Ponds.