Ɛpsilon

To Japetus Steenstrup   11 September 1876

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Sept 11th. 1876

My dear Sir

I must trouble you with a few lines to thank you for sending me your three essays. Unfortunately I do not understand Danish, but I have read with the greatest interest the essay on the Basking Shark: I had heard about the comb-like structure, but had no idea that the combs were of the nature of teeth; it is a most wonderful case.1

I always reflect with pleasure on your great kindness towards me when I was at work on the Cirripedia.2

Some year or two ago, I received your Photograph together with some essays, & it pleased me much to add it to my collection.3 Your sending it makes me think that you would perhaps like to have mine, which I now send.

With the greatest respect | I remain | My dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

[Enclosure]

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Sept 11th

With Mr. Darwin’s compliments & good wishes.—4

1
This letter was previously published without the enclosure in Correspondence vol. 24. The essay CD was able to read was evidently ‘Sur les appareils tamiseurs ou fanons branchiaux du Pélerin (Selachus maximus Gunn.)’ (On the straining appendages or branchial fringes of the basking shark; Steenstrup 1873a). It was a summary in French of Steenstrup’s article ‘Om Gjællegitteret eller Gjællebarderne hos Brugden (Selachus maximus (Gunn.))’ (Steenstrup 1873b). Steenstrup probably sent copies of both the Danish and the French paper, as well as an unidentified third paper; CD’s copies have not been found in the Darwin Archive–CUL. Selachus maximus is a synonym of Cetorhinus maximus (the basking shark). The comb-like structures that project from the branchial fringes or gill arches, now known as gill rakers, are adaptations for filter feeding.
2
Steenstrup had provided CD with many specimens of fossil and living Cirripedia; CD described them in Fossil Cirripedia (1851), Fossil Cirripedia (1854), Living Cirripedia (1851), and Living Cirripedia (1854) (see Correspondence vols. 4 and 5, Correspondence vol. 7, Supplement, and Correspondence vol. 24, Supplement).
3
See Correspondence vol. 22, letter to Japetus Steenstrup, 23 May [1874 or 1875?]. The photograph has not been found and the essays have not been identified.
4
The enclosure was found in Kantonsbibliothek Vadiana with a draft of Steenstrup’s reply on its verso (see this volume, Supplement, letter from Japetus Steenstrup, [after 11 September 1876]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 that the] ‘the’ altered from ‘they’
1.4 combs] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10594,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10594