Ɛpsilon

To J. E. Gray   5 [or 6] February 18481

Down Farnborough Kent

Feb 5. /48/

My dear Gray

I beg that you will take the first fitting opportunity to lay before the Trustees my most sincere acknowledgment of the great honour they have done me in entrusting to my care the collection of the Cirripedia, for the purpose of disarticulating & mounting the soft parts in spirits of one specimen of each species & of naming & describing the collection.2

I beg to assure them, as far as my utmost endeavours can insure the result, their confidence shall not be ill-placed. I hope to add many new species to the Collection from my own & several private collections already handed over to me.—

Allow me to repeat to you my thanks for your kind & generous assistance.

Believe me | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin To | J. E. Gray Esqre.—

2
Gray forwarded CD’s letter to the trustees with a note, dated 8 February 1848, in which he wrote: ‘I do not see how I can better convey Mr Darwins thanks to the Trustees than by enclosing the accompanying letter to you’ (British Museum (Natural History), Zoology Department, Report 1848: 87; Gunther 1979, p. 57).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 disarticulating] before del ‘some’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1153,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1153