d of and circulated; but to a certain extent this, I
think, always depends on chance.

I suppose the clicking noise of surprise made by the Indian is that
which the end of the tongue, applied to the palate of the mouth and
suddenly withdrawn, makes?

I have not written since receiving your note of April 20th, in which
you confided in me and told me your prospects. I heartily wish they were
better, and especially more certain; but with your abilities and powers
of writing it will be strange if you cannot add what little you require
for your income. I am glad that you have got a retired and semi-rural
situation. What a grand ending you give to your book, contrasting
civilisation and wild life! I quite regret that I have finished it:
every evening it was a real treat to me to have my half-hour in the
grand Amazonian forest, and picture to myself your vivid descriptions.
There are heaps of facts of value to me in a natural history point
of view. It was a great misfortune that you were prevented giving the
discussion on species. But you will, I hope, be able to give your views
and facts somewhere else.

LETTER 168. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, May 15th [1863].

Your letter received this morning interested me more than even most of
your letters, and that is saying a good deal. I must scribble a little
on several points. About Lyell and species--you put the whole case, I
do believe, when you say that he is "half-hearted and whole-headed."
(168/1. Darwin's disappointment with the cautious point of view taken
up by Lyell in the "Antiquity of Man" is illustrated in the "Life and
Letters," III., pages 11, 13. See also Letter 164, page 239.) I wrote
to A. Gray that, when I saw such men as Lyell and he refuse to judge,
it put me in despair, and that I sometimes thought I should prefer that
Lyell had judged against modification of species rather than profess
inability to decide; and I left him to apply this to himself. I am
heartily rejoiced to hear that you intend to try to bring L. and F.
(168/2. Falconer claimed that Lyell had not "done justice to the part he
took in resuscitating the cave question." See "Life and Letters," III.,
page 14.) together again; but had you not better wait till they are a
little cooled? You will do Science a real good service. Falconer never
forgave Lyell for taking the Purbeck bones from him and handing them
over to Owen.

With respect to island floras, if I understand rightly, we differ almost
solely