1843-1882] N. AMERICAN FLORA 435 



Asia and Southern America, etc. But I dare say this is a Letter 331 

 Utopian wish, owing to difficulty of saying what genera to 

 call mundane ; nor have I my ideas at all clear on the 

 subject, and I have expressed them even less clearly than 

 I have them. 



I am so very glad that you intend to work out the north 

 range of the 321 European species; for it seems to me the 

 by far most important element in their distribution. 



And I am equally glad that you intend to work out 

 range of species in regard to size of genera — i.e. number of 

 species in genus. I have been attempting to do this in a 

 very few cases, but it is folly for any one but a botanist to 

 attempt it. I must think that De Candolle has fallen into 

 error in attempting to do this for orders instead of for 

 genera — for reasons with which I will not trouble you. 



To J. D. Hooker. Letter 332 



The " verdict " referred to in the following letter was Sir J. D. Hooker's 

 opinion on Darwin's MS. on geographical distribution. The first 

 paragraph has been already published in Life and Letters, II., p. 86. 



Down, Nov. 4th [1856]. 



I thank you more cordially than you will think probable 

 for your note. Your verdict has been a great relief. On 

 my honour I had no idea whether or not you would say 

 it was (and I knew you would say it very kindly) so bad, 

 that you would have begged me to have burnt the whole. 

 To my own mind my MS. relieved me of some few diffi- 

 culties, and the difficulties seemed to me pretty fairly stated ; 

 but I had become so bewildered with conflicting facts — 

 evidence, reasoning and opinions — that I felt to myself that 

 I had lost all judgment. Your general verdict is incom- 

 parably more favourable than I had anticipated. 



Very many thanks for your invitation. I had made 

 up my mind, on my poor wife's account, not to come up 

 to next Phil. Club ; but I am so much tempted by your 

 invitation, and my poor dear wife is so good-natured about 

 it, that I think I shall not resist — i.e., if she does not get 

 worse. I would come to dinner at about same time as 

 before, if that would suit you, and 1 do not hear to the 

 contrary ; and would go away by the early train — i.e., about 



