From G. R. Waterhouse [7 March 1855]
be sent tomorrow—
I have lately been studying the head of the Ichthyosaurus1 — how like it is in all its superficial characters to the Cetacean skull, and yet in essential—or type characters, it is totally different— even the upper jaw of the one, is not the upper jaw of the other— the snout with its teeth in the Ichthyosaurus is made up of the intermaxillaries in the Cetacean it is the maxillaries—&c— I don’t know a grander example of difference of types, (combined with much superficial resemblance), than is offered by the two beasts—
Yours faithfully | Geo. R. Waterhouse
CD annotations
Summary
Comparison of skulls of Ichthyosaurus and Cetacea.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1642
- From
- George Robert Waterhouse
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 181: 20
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1642,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1642.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5