Ɛpsilon

To N. T. Wetherell   8 [August 1850]1

Down Farnborough Kent

Thursday 8th

Dear Sir

I fear that you will think me a sad trespasser on your kindness & forbearance, when I tell you that I have not actually completed my description of Loricula;2 but I shall do it directly & write now to obtain your permission to take (myself) your specimen to Mr. James De C. Sowerby3 to ⁠⟨⁠be⁠⟩⁠ drawn for publication by the Palæontographical Society.— I have received Mr Flowers4 specimens, & some from Denmark but none are related to the Loricula, which is as perplexing as ever to me.—

Immediately that Mr Sowerby has with your permission figured the Loricula (& I shall take it up in a fortnight) it shall be returned to you.—

Is there any safe place where I could leave it in London for you, or shall I return it by a messenger?—

I believe I did once before ask you, whether you have any other fossil Cirripedia.—

To save you the trouble of answering, I will assume, without I hear to the contrary that Mr Sowerby may figure it.—

With my best thanks | I remain dear Sir | Your’s faithfully | C. Darwin

I assure you that it has not been idleness which has delayed me, but numbers of specimens of other fossil

1
August 1850 was the only month with a ‘Thursday 8th’ in the period between the Palaeontographical Society’s decision to publish Fossil Cirripedia (1851) and the publication of the first volume of this work in 1851, in which Loricula is described.
2
Loricula pulchella (a synonym of Stramentum pulchellum), described in Fossil Cirripedia (1851): 81–6.
3
James de Carle Sowerby drew all the figures of the specimens in the first volume of Fossil Cirripedia (1851). At the time of writing, CD does not seem to have known that George Brettingham Sowerby Jr had described and figured this specimen in 1843. However, since that time Wetherell had cleared away more material from the specimen, revealing features not seen by G. B. Sowerby Jr, and a new drawing was made for CD’s description (Fossil Cirripedia (1851): 81).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 your] before omitted point
2.1 Immediately] after del ‘I’
2.1 with your permission] interl
2.2 (& I shall take it up in a fortnight)] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1267,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1267