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Lawson thanks Thiselton-Dyer for his long letter of 12 Feb. He was sorry to hear they had been so ill during the last year. Mr Grant Duff has shown Lawson Thiselton-Dyer's report on the creation of a botanical department in that Presidency, and Lawson agrees with the remarks therein. A museum for reference is his great want at present. Lawson discusses the Dublin mosses he had been arranging at Oxford at Percival Wright's special request. Lawson left special instructions with Chapman, Wright the herbarium assistant, and Mr Boswell, concerning the dispatch of the collections. On the receipt of Thiselton-Dyer's letter last year mentioning them, he wrote again immediately to Percival Wright, telling him exactly how his collection was left and to whom he was to apply to have them returned. Lawson is very glad to hear that Balfour has such satisfactory pay and hopes he will succeed in raising botany in the University. Lawson is glad to hear that Thiselton-Dyer now has Wright, his old assistant, at Kew. Lawson is very pleased that Thiselton-Dyer admires the waras dye. Lawson sends two sheets from his herbarium: one an extreme form of Flemingia grahamiana; the other F. congesta. He doubts if the latter is anything more than a low country form of the former. He thinks Neptunia oleracea a queer thing that RBG Kew ought to have. He has written to Abbay[?], the assistant in the herbarium at Madras [Chennai], to get some seed of the plant to send to Kew. It is plentiful around Madras, but Lawson has never seen it near Ooty [Udagamandalam]. Next week Lawson will send to Kew some seeds of Erythroxylum coca. The Government Quinologist has tried in vain to extract a valuable drug. He gets the cocaine alkaloid but it is of no practical value. Lawson wishes Thiselton-Dyer would hand the leaves over to someone in London to see if they are really worthless. The planters wish to rush into cultivation, but it may be that when grown in India the leaves lose their virtue. Pages 1 and 4 of 6.