hy? Is East Asia nearly as well known as West
America? so that does the state of knowledge allow a pretty fair
comparison? I presume it would be impossible, but I think it would make
in one point your tables of generic ranges more clear (admirably clear
as they seem to me) if you could show, even roughly, what proportion of
the genera in common to Europe (i.e. nearly half) are very general or
mundane rangers. As your results now stand, at the first glance the
affinity seems so very strong to Europe, owing, as I presume, to nearly
half of the genera including very many genera common to the world or
large portions of it. Europe is thus unfairly exalted. Is this not so?
If we had the number of genera strictly, or nearly strictly European,
one could compare better with Asia and Southern America, etc. But I dare
say this is a Utopian wish, owing to difficulty of saying what genera
to call mundane; nor have I my ideas at all clear on the subject, and I
have expressed them even less clearly than I have them.

I am so very glad that you intend to work out the north range of the 321
European species; for it seems to me the by far most important element
in their distribution.

And I am equally glad that you intend to work out range of species in
regard to size of genera--i.e. number of species in genus. I have been
attempting to do this in a very few cases, but it is folly for any one
but a botanist to attempt it. I must think that De Candolle has
fallen into error in attempting to do this for orders instead of for
genera--for reasons with which I will not trouble you.

LETTER 332. TO J.D. HOOKER.

(332/1. The "verdict" referred to in the following letter was Sir J.D.
Hooker's opinion on Darwin's MS. on geographical distribution. The first
paragraph has been already published in "Life and Letters," II., page
86.)

Down, November 4th [1856].

I thank you more cordially than you will think probable for your note.
Your verdict has been a great relief. On my honour I had no idea whether
or not you would say it was (and I knew you would say it very kindly)
so bad, that you would have begged me to have burnt the whole. To my own
mind my MS. relieved me of some few difficulties, and the difficulties
seemed to me pretty fairly stated; but I had become so bewildered with
conflicting facts--evidence, reasoning and opinions--that I felt
to myself that I had lost all judgment. Your general verdict is
incomparably more favourable tha