(nor mule?) in this family.

I shall be particularly curious to hear some account of the appearance and
origin of the Ayrshire Irish Yew. And now for the main object of my
letter: it is to ask whether you would just run your eye over the proof of
my Galapagos chapter (19/4. In the second edition of the "Naturalist's
Voyage."), where I mention the plants, to see that I have made no blunders,
or spelt any of the scientific names wrongly. As I daresay you will so far
oblige me, will you let me know a few days before, when you leave Edinburgh
and how long you stay at Kinnordy, so that my letter might catch you. I am
not surprised at my collection from James Island differing from others, as
the damp upland district (where I slept two nights) is six miles from the
coast, and no naturalist except myself probably ever ascended to it.
Cuming had never even heard of it. Cuming tells me that he was on Charles,
James, and Albemarle Islands, and that he cannot remember from my
description the Scalesia, but thinks he could if he saw a specimen. I have
no idea of the origin of the distribution of the Galapagos shells, about
which you ask. I presume (after Forbes' excellent remarks on the
facilities by which embryo-shells are transported) that the Pacific shells
have been borne thither by currents; but the currents all run the other
way.


(PLATE: EDWARD FORBES 1844? From a photograph by Hill & Adamson.)


LETTER 20. EDWARD FORBES TO C. DARWIN.

(20/1. Edward Forbes was at work on his celebrated paper in the
"Geological Survey Memoirs" for 1846. We have not seen the letter of