Ɛpsilon

To James Clark Ross    25 February [1848]1

Down | Farnborough | Kent

Feb. 25th.

Dear Sir James Ross

I am very much obliged to you for so kindly remembering my wish to see any Cirripedes in your possession:2 I received them only a few days since owing to my not having been for a long time in London.— I am now very sorry to trouble you, but I cannot make out the label enclosed: will you kindly tell me what Bank it is, & if you remember the depth. The dry Balani, I presume came from T. del Fuego.3

Finally, one more question: shd I return the specimens to you at the Athenæum Club? I hope you will allow me to keep them for about six or eight weeks for I shall not return to the genus Balanus just at present.4

I am really sorry thus to trouble you.

Pray believe me | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

To | Capt. Sir J. Ross | R.N. &c &c.

1
The date is suggested by the relationship to a letter to Ross in December 1847 requesting Ross’s assistance with his cirripede monograph. See n. 2, below.
2
In a letter to Ross, 31 December 1847 (Correspondence vol. 4), CD asked Ross to collect cirripede specimens for him during his forthcoming voyage in search of John Franklin (1848–9). Ross had previously collected cirripedes during his Antarctic exploring expedition (1839–43) and seems to have sent these to CD in response to his request. Specimens of Balanus from Ross’s Antarctic collection were described in Living Cirripedia (1854): 209, 225.
3
The letter is annotated ‘And 30 Mar’, presumably the date of a letter from Ross to CD that is now missing.
4
CD recorded having worked on Balanus in February 1847 and did not again study this genus of sessile cirripedes until late in 1850. See Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix I.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.1 shd] altered from ‘shal’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1158A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1158A