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Darwin Correspondence Project

To A. A. Gould   9 September [1854]

Down Farnborough Kent

Sept. 9th.—

Dear Sir

At last I have finished my work on cirripedes, & have packed up the specimens you were so very kind as to lend me.1 They have been extremely useful to me. As you are a member of the Ray Soc.y, & as I am indebted to many naturalists, who are not members, & to whom I wish to send copies, I have not sent you one, believing that you would excuse me.—

I have directed Mrs. Williams, & Norgate, through whom I send next week the Box, to pay the carriage, & this being the case, I have thought that you would forgive me sending in the same box the specimens which Prof. Agassiz was so kind as to send me,2 & a copy of my work for him.— When you next see Prof. Agassiz, will you be so good as to give him my cordial thanks & my kind & respectful remembrances.—

Once again allow me to thank you for the confidence you have placed in me in so long allowing the specimens to remain in my possession.— They are, I believe, all returned safely, excepting one very curious var. (of which fortunately you have a duplicate) of Tetraclita porosa,3 which was stolen together with some other specimens (not belonging to you) out of a parcel.—

I mentioned on a former occasion how freely I had ventured to dissect the specimen of Ibla Cumingii from Tavoy.4

Pray believe me, my dear Sir, with sincere respect. | Your’s truly obliged | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

Gould was one of the first foreign specialists to whom CD wrote when he decided to prepare a monograph on the Cirripedia (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to A. A. Gould, 3 September [1848]).
Gould’s specimens of Tetraclita porosa (the volcano barnacle) were described by CD as ‘Var. (7) patellaris’ (Living Cirripedia (1854): 330, 333).
A district in lower Burma. CD’s dissections of Ibla cumingii convinced him that this species, unlike the majority of cirripedes, exhibited true females and minute epizoic males. CD thanked Gould for providing specimens in Living Cirripedia (1851): 189 n.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Living Cirripedia (1851): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Lepadidæ; or, pedunculated cirripedes. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1851.

Living Cirripedia (1854): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Balanidæ (or sessile cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1854.

Summary

Returns cirripede specimens to AAG. Encloses specimens for Louis Agassiz in same box.

Since AAG is a member of the Ray Society, will not send him a copy of Living Cirripedia, vol. 2.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-1591
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Augustus Addison Gould
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Houghton Library, Harvard University (Augustus A. Gould papers, 1831–66 MS Am 1210: 225)
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1591,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1591.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5

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