110 GEOEGE JOHN EOMANES lsso- 



18 Cornwall Terrace, Eegent'e Park, N.W. : December 17, 1880. 



My dear Mr. Darwin, — Just a line to let you 

 know that Professor Tyndall has kindly placed at my 

 disposal the apparatus required to conduct the ex- 

 periment with flashing light. 



Frank's papers at the Linnean were, as you will 

 probably have heard from other sources, a most 

 brilliant success, as not only was the attendance 

 enormously large and the interest great, but his ex- 

 position was a masterpiece of scientific reasoning, 

 rendered with a choice and fluency of language that 

 were really charming. I knew, of course, that he is 

 a very clever fellow, but I did not know that he could 

 do that sort of thing so well. 



I have now got a monkey. Sclater let me 

 choose one from the Zoo, and it is a very intelligent, 

 affectionate little animal. I wanted to keep it in the 

 nursery for purposes of comparison, but the proposal 

 met with so much opposition that I had to give way. 

 I am afraid to suggest the idiot, lest I should be told 

 to occupy the nursery myself. 



Very sincerely and most respectfully yours, 



Geo. J. Eomanes. 



Down, Beckenham, Kent : January 24. 



My dear Eomanes, — I have been thinking about 

 Pompilius and its allies. Please take the trouble to 

 read on ' Perforation of the Corolla by Bees,' p. 425 of 

 my Cross Fertilisation to end of chapter. Bees show 

 so much intelligence in their acts, that it seems not 

 improbable to me that the progenitors of Pompilius 



