48 LIFE OF PROFESSOn HUXLEY 



CHAP. II 



Best thanks for taking so much trouble about H- 



Pray tell him if ever you write that I have not answered 

 his letter only because I awaited your reply. He may 

 think my silence uncivil . . . — Ever yours, 



T. H. HOXLEY. 



To Sir J. D. Hooker 



4 Marlborough Place, 

 Dec. 29, 1887. 



Where is the fullest information about distribution of 

 Coniferae ? Of course I have looked at Genera PL and 

 De Candolle. 



I have been trying to make out whether structure or 

 climate or paleontology throw any light on their distribu- 

 tion — and am drawing complete blank. Why the deuce 

 are there no Conifers but Podocarpus and Widringtonias 

 in all Africa south of the Sahara ? And why the double 

 deuce are about three-quarters of the genera huddled 

 together in Japan and N. China ? 



I am puzzling over this group because the paleonto- 

 logical record is comparatively so good. 



I am beginning to suspect that present distribution is 

 an affair rather of denudation than migration. 



Sequoia ! Taxodium ! Widringtonia ! Araucaria ! all 

 in Europe, in Mesozoic and Tertiary. 



The following letters to Mr. Herbert Spencer were 

 written as sets of proofs of his Autobiography arrived. 

 That to Sir J. Skelton was to thank him for his book 

 on Maitland of Lethington, the Scotch statesman of 

 the time of Queen Mary. 



Jan. 18, 1887. 

 (The first part of this letter is given on p. 3.) 



My dear Spencer — I see that your proofs have been 

 in my hands longer than I thought for. But you may 



