To J. S. Bowerbank 19 January [1850]
Down Farnborough | Kent
Jan 19th.
My dear Sir
In accordance with your permission, I have cleared one of the large valves, which can be now drawn. The four little embedded pieces, now cleared & separated, consist of (1) a fragment of a scutum, (2) a perfect upper latus (3d) a perfect lower latus 4th. a broken do.—1
Your specimen is certainly now a hundred–fold more instructive; & the 3 valves which were in their nearly proper position have not been in the least displaced.
Many thanks for offer of sessile cirripedes, but I am not nearly ready for them yet.—2
Forbes3 wrote to me that he understood that you had some valves from the Gault of Pollicipes besides those sent to me; if you have & wd entrust them to me, I shd be particularly thankful, as I want to see as many as possible.— Mr Fitch has sent me some beautiful specimens for description.—
I fully thought I had asked you in my former note, & if I did not it was an accidental omission which I am very sorry to say will entail another note on you.— It is to ask whether you will permit me to have some of your specimens drawn by Mr J. Sowerby: I intend to have all the fossils (if I get permission), which have any good characters, drawn.—
With respect to publication of the fossils, I have not yet thought: your mentioning the Palæont. Soc. makes me think whether my work wd suit them.4 I hope immediately to receive a lot of fossils from Copenhagen-chalk, named by Beck5 & Steenstrup; which will be very valuable for comparison with the British specimens.— Will you give me your idea about Palæont. Soc.— I suppose, even if you thought it would suit, I had better wait till I have done the Sessile cirripedes, as the whole will of course be only a small Part.—
Pray forgive this trouble. & believe me. Yours very faithfully | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Fossil Cirripedia (1851): A monograph on the fossil Lepadidæ, or, pedunculated cirripedes of Great Britain. By Charles Darwin. London: Palaeontographical Society. 1851.
Trenn, Thaddeus J. 1974. Charles Darwin, fossil cirripedes, and Robert Fitch: presenting sixteen hitherto unpublished Darwin letters of 1849 to 1851. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 118: 471–91.
Summary
Describes result of his dissection of one of JSB’s cirripede specimens, "now a hundred fold more instructive". Awaits fossils from Copenhagen Chalk for comparison with British specimens. Asks permission for J. de C. Sowerby to draw specimens.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1294
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Scott Bowerbank
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 7pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1294,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1294.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 4