To Japetus Steenstrup   25 January [1850]

Down Farnborough Kent

Jan 25th.

Dear Sir

I am quite delighted in at last being able to tell you that your Box with the fossil cirripedes has arrived quite safely this morning.—1 It is a great load off my mind.— Not one specimen is injured, except, perhaps, some of the valves of your Anat(?) cretæ.—2 It is a noble collection, & I feel most grateful to you for having entrusted them to me.— I have now a great many collections in this house, so that I have good means of comparison.— Most of your species, as far as a hasty first glance tells, are different from the British. Your P. medius. is the same as P. sulcatus of Sowerby; & instead of being a Pollicipes, it is a Scalpellum, though these genera differ much too little.—3 The P. elegans I have (unnamed) from our Chalk.—4 I will do my best in comparing all the specimens which I have now together; but I am not hopeful of producing good results: I much dislike giving specific names to each separate valve, & thereby almost certainly making three or four nominal species for each true species.—

I am extremely pleased to see the Alepas.5 The cause of the great delay was in Prof. Forchhammer having sent the box within another to a dealer in minerals, who uncourteously did not take the trouble to inform me. Please to tell Prof. Forchammer that owing to his note I have got the Box, & pray give him, & accept yourself my most cordial thanks.— I will take great care of your specimens.— I hope now that this Box has arrived safely, that you will add to your already great kindness, & send me the northern species alluded to in your former letter.—

I will hereafter write again to you.—

Pray believe me | my dear Sir | Yours most gratefully | C. Darwin

1
See letters to J. G. Forchhammer, 12 November and 1 December [1849], and to J. J. S. Steenstrup, 30 December [1849].
2
Anatifera cretæ, a synonym of Scalpellum (?) cretæ. The ‘(?)’ indicates that CD ‘felt much hesitation in admitting this species in the genus Scalpellum’ (Fossil Cirripedia (1851): 45).
3
See Fossil Cirripedia (1851): 26, where Pollicipes medius and P. sulcatus are both listed as synonyms of Scalpellum maximum.
4
Fossil Cirripedia (1851): 76.
5
Alepas squalicola (Anelasma squalicola). See CD’s letters to Sven Lovén, 12 November 1849, and to J. J. S. Steenstrup, 30 December [1849].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 some] after del ‘your’
1.8 Pollicipes] ‘P’ over ‘S’
1.9 Chalk] before omitted point
1.10 which] interl
1.12 separate] interl
1.12 thereby] altered from ‘therby’
1.12 three] after del ‘thrice’
2.2 Forchhammer] 2‘h’ over ‘a’
2.3 who] before del ‘w’
2.4 owing to his note] interl
2.4 I have] ‘I’ over illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1297,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1297