Ɛpsilon

To J. S. Bowerbank   25 February [1850]1

Down Farnborough Kent

Feb 25th.

My dear Sir

I have found a few sponges in my collection: some dry & some in Spirits.

I do not suppose they will be of any use to you—but on the same principle that I like to look at all old rubbishy barnacles, you may like to look at & have any rubbishy Sponges.—2 I will leave them directed to you at Geolog. Soc. on Thursday next.—3

I believe I have a few more specimens but cannot now lay my hands on them.

Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

I return your Plumularia on which the beautiful & most interesting Scalpellum ornatum was attached.—4

Postmark: FE 26 18⁠⟨⁠50⁠⟩⁠

1
The year is established by the oval cancellation stamp on the cover containing the code ‘58’. This code was in use by the chief Post Office in London between May 1849 and September 1850 (Parmenter 1981, catalogue no. 58A).
2
Bowerbank was an expert on sponges and published the first part of A monograph of the British Spongidæ in 1864 (Bowerbank 1864–82); CD is not mentioned in the list of acknowledgments. For the sponge specimens CD collected on the Beagle voyage, see R. D. Keynes ed. 2000.
3
In 1850, 25 February was a Monday and the following Thursday was 28 February. CD is not known to have visited London on that date, and may instead have sent the specimens by the weekly carrier, which operated a service to London on Thursdays (Post Office directory of the six home counties 1851). However, in his letter to J. de C. Sowerby, 3 March [1850], CD refers to delayed plans to visit London in order to deliver and collect cirripede specimens (Correspondence vol. 4).
4
Plumularia is a genus of feathery, branching colonies of hydrozoan polyps that have a protective horny covering. Scapellum ornatum, a barnacle from Algoa Bay, South Africa, is described in Living Cirripedia (1851), p. 244. Both were sent to CD by Bowerbank in 1849 (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. S. Bowerbank, 24 February [1849]). In a letter to Bowerbank of 25 June [1851], CD requested the return of the Scalpellum in order to re-examine the peduncle (Correspondence vol. 5).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1305A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1305A