* * * * * _Down, Bromley, Kent, S.E. January 1, 1864._ Dear Wallace,--I am still unable to write otherwise than by dictation. In a letter received two or three weeks ago from Asa Gray he writes: "I read lately with gusto Wallace's exposé of the Dublin man on Bee cells, etc."[38] Now though I cannot read at present, I much want to know where this is published, that I may procure a copy. Further on Asa Gray says (after speaking of Agassiz's paper on Glaciers in the _Atlantic Magazine_ and his recent book entitled "Method of Study"): "Pray set Wallace upon these articles." So Asa Gray seems to think much of your powers of reviewing, and I mention this as it assuredly is _laudari a laudato_. I hope you are hard at work, and if you are inclined to tell me I should much like to know what you are doing. It will be many months, I fear, before I shall do anything. Pray believe me yours very sincerely, CH. DARWIN. * * * * * _5 Westbourne Grove Terrace, W. January 2, 1864._ My dear Darwin,--Many thanks for your kind letter. I was afraid to write because I heard such sad accounts of your health, but I am glad to find that you can write, and I presume read, by deputy. My little article on Haughton's paper was published in the _Annals of Natural History_ about August or September last, I think, but I have not a copy to refer to. I am sure it does not deserve Asa Gray's praises, for though the matter may be true enough, the manner I know is very inferior. It was written hastily, and when I read it in the _Annals_ I was rather ashamed of it, as I knew so many could have done it so much better. I will try and see Agassiz's paper and book. What I have hitherto seen of his on Glacial subjects seems very good, but in all his Natural History _theories_, he seems so utterly wrong and so totally blind to the plainest deduction from facts, and at the same time so vague and obscure in his language, that it would be a very long and wearisome task to answer him. With regard to work, I am doing but little--I am afraid I have no good habit of systematic work. I have been gradually getting parts of my collections in order, but the obscurities of synonymy and descriptions, the difficulty of examining specimens, and my very limited library, make it wearisome work. I have been lately getting the first groups of my butterflies in order, and they offer some most interesting facts in variation and distribution--in variation some very puzzling ones. Though I have very fine series of specimens, I find in many cases I want more; in fact if I could have afforded to have all my collections kept till my return I should, I think, have found it necessary to retain twice as many as I now have.