nera of EUROPEAN AFFINITY that are so rare," while Clethra,
Dracaena and the Laurels, which have no European affinity, are common.)
Etty (379/2. Mr. Darwin's daughter, now Mrs. Litchfield.), who has read
your paper with great interest, was confounded by this sentence. By the
way, I have stumbled on two old notes: one, that twenty-two species of
European birds occasionally arrive as chance wanderers to the Azores;
and, secondly, that trunks of American trees have been known to be
washed on the shores of the Canary Islands by the Gulf-stream, which
returns southward from the Azores. What poor papers those of A. Murray
are in "Gardeners' Chronicle." What conclusions he draws from a single
Carabus (379/3. "Dr. Hooker on Insular Floras" ("Gardeners' Chronicle,"
1867, pages 152, 181). The reference to the Carabidous beetle
(Aplothorax) is at page 181.), and that a widely ranging genus! He seems
to me conceited; you and I are fair game geologically, but he refers to
Lyell, as if his opinion on a geological point was worth no more than
his own. I have just bought, but not read a sentence of, Murray's
big book (379/4. "Geographical Distribution of Mammals," 1866.),
second-hand, for 30s., new, so I do not envy the publishers. It is clear
to me that the man cannot reason. I have had a very nice letter from
Scott at Calcutta (379/5. See Letter 150.): he has been making some
good observations on the acclimatisation of seeds from plants of same
species, grown in different countries, and likewise on how far European
plants will stand the climate of Calcutta. He says he is astonished
how well some flourish, and he maintains, if the land were unoccupied,
several could easily cross, spreading by seed, the Tropics from north to
south, so he knows how to please me; but I have told him to be cautious,
else he will have dragons down on him...

As the Azores are only about two-and-a-half times more distant from
America (in the same latitude) than from Europe, on the occasional
migration view (especially as oceanic currents come directly from
West Indies and Florida, and heavy gales of wind blow from the same
direction), a large percentage of the flora ought to be American; as it
is, we have only the Sanicula, and at present we have no explanation of
this apparent anomaly, or only a feeble indication of an explanation in
the birds of the Azores being all European.

LETTER 380. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, March 21st [1867].

Many thanks for your