These letters cover subjects in natural history, especially birds and mollusks.

These letters refer to the exchange of various plants, to botany in general, and to the operation of Kew. There is mention as well of the plants of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

This collection contains correspondence on natural history, expecially mollusks, fishes, and birds, and on medicine and social affairs, with references to the British Museum of Natural History. Also included are a paper by Owen on dinosaurs and a synopsis of a course of lectures, 1857.

One of the most important natural historians in nineteenth century Britain, Charles Darwin provided the first compelling mechanism to account for organismal evolutionary change. Although lacking a coherent model of heredity, Darwin's natural selection has exerted an enormous influence over the biological sciences and since the introduction of Mendelian genetics, had remained the key unifying principle in the discipline. The APS Darwin Papers are a large a valuable assemblage of Darwin's correspondence with scientific colleagues, including Charles Lyell and George J. Romanes. They are included in the print version of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge Univ. Press).