18441858] LARGE GENERA 99 



Down, August 22nd [1857]. Letter 53 



Your handwriting always rejoices the cockles of my 

 heart ; though you have no reason to be " overwhelmed 

 with shame," as I did not expect to hear. 



I write now chiefly to know whether you can tell me how 

 to write to Hermann Schlagenheit (is this spelt right P), 1 for I 

 believe he is returned to England, and he has poultry skins 

 for me from W. Elliot of Madras. 



I am very glad to hear that you have been tabulating 

 some Floras about varieties. Will you just tell me roughly 

 the result? Do you not find it takes much time? I am 

 employing a laboriously careful schoolmaster, who does 

 the tabulating and dividing into two great cohorts, more 

 carefully than I can. This being so, I should be very glad 

 some time to have Koch, Webb's Canaries, and Ledebour, 

 and Grisebach, but I do not know even where Rumelia is. I 

 shall work the British flora with three separate Floras ; and 

 I intend dividing the varieties into two classes, as Asa Gray 

 and Henslow give the materials, and, further, A. Gray and 

 H. C. Watson have marked for me the forms, which they 

 consider real species, but yet are very close to others ; and it 

 will be curious to compare results. If it will all hold good 

 it is very important for me ; for it explains, as I think, all 

 classification, i.e. the quasi-branching and sub-branching of 

 forms, as if from one root, big genera increasing and 

 splitting up, etc., as you will perceive. But then comes in, 

 also, what I call a principle of divergence, which I think 

 I can explain, but which is too long, and perhaps you would 

 not care to hear. As you have been on this subject, you 

 might like to hear what very little is complete (for my 

 schoolmaster has had three weeks' holidays) only three 

 cases as yet, I see. 



BABINGTON BRITISH FLORA. 



593 species in genera of 5 and 

 upwards have in a thousand species 

 presenting vars. iVA- 2 



593 (odd chance equal) in genera 

 of 3 and downwards ihave in a 

 thousand presenting vars. it^. 



1 Schlagintweit. 



v- 



2 This sentence may be interpreted as follows : The number of 

 species which present varieties are 134 per thousand in genera of 

 5 species and upwards. The result is obtained from tabulation of 593 

 species. 



