My Dear [Sir]

My health [has] been so bad all this winter that I [have been] advised to go [to] Malvern [for one] or two months & consequently [cannot come to] Paris this spring.—² I am however not in the least less anxious to accept your truly generous offer of assistance in [identific]ations.³ The delay in my coming will [at least be] advantageous in one respect, f[or I fin]d the [species are] most difficult to [distinguish] by only [external] characters & [therefore] the more perfectly I [know the class the more] I will profit by my visit to the Jardin des [Plantes].⁴ I suppose from [[illeg] delayed that I shall not come [for six] or seven months. I have already lost four to five months [of my time [illeg] donate] some [new] [genus] or species to the Museum.—⁵

[As you thought] it most useful to [do, depositing] one species of each genus. You would confer a great favour on me if you could send me a single specimen of the Alepas parasite of which a large group is figured in the Voyages of the Astrolabe & of the Coquille.⁶ If you care to thus far oblige me, you might send it (to avoid custom-house opening it) by some friend in a very little bottle, directed to me either at “7 Park S^t. Grosvenor Sq^r”⁷ or to the “Geological Soc: Somerset House.” Pray do not waste your time in answering this letter. By working every day on which I could, I have made some progress & I hope that my work may meet hereafter with your approval, which I should prize more than that of any man’s in Europe.—

With my thanks | I remain, with much respect | Yours very faithfully | C. Darwin