Ɛpsilon

To J. S. Bowerbank   [8 March 1850]1

Down Farnborough Kent

Friday Even.

My dear Sir

Your letter having been directed Farnham made an astonishing tour & arrived here only yesterday.— I am particularly obliged for loan of the Pollicipes cornucopia 2 (common species) for with it, there is, as I believe, a new Chthamalus3 & Balanus cranchii,4 the southern range of which I was very curious to know about.— I will retain the specimen as a loan, or pay you what you gave Eling5 for it, if you so choose.—

I was very glad indeed to hear that the Palæont. Soc. accepted my proposal;6 in a few weeks, when I have got all my drawings & M.S. ready I will communicate again with you for your advice on some points— The drawings must be on copper for all depends on lines of growth:—7 James de C. Sowerby is making my drawings, & wd. undoubtedly engrave them best.—

I am particularly much obliged to you for speaking to Mr. Hanley;8 will you forgive me asking you to write his address on slip of paper & enclose it to me; for I know not how else to find it out.

I suppose I was admitted a member of the Palæont. Soc. & shall sometime hear when & where I can pay my Subscriptions &c.

Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

1
The date, a Friday, is conjectured from the relationship of this letter to CD’s letter to Bowerbank, 17 March [1850], in which CD sends thanks for information requested here. Friday the 15th would probably not have allowed sufficient time for Bowerbank’s response.
2
Pollicipes cornucopia is described in Living Cirripedia (1851): 298–303.
3
Eight species of the genus Chthamalus are described in Living Cirripedia (1854): 447–69, but none that is new or described as attached to a specimen supplied by Bowerbank.
4
Balanus cranchii is recorded as one of the synonyms for B. perforatus (Living Cirripedia (1854): 231).
5
William Eling was a dealer in shells living in Deptford High Street, London (Post Office London directory 1848).
7
For CD’s opinion on the inadequacy of lithography for figuring natural history specimens, see letter to J. de C. Sowerby, [13 April 1850].
8
Sylvanus Charles Thorpe Hanley. CD thanked him in both Living Cirripedia (1854): 277 n. and Fossil Cirripedia (1854): 25 n. for providing a reference to a work by Ascanius that established the priority of the name Balanus hameri.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 Pollicipes] after omitted point
1.3 (common species)] interl
1.5 as a loan,] interl
1.5 or pay] after del comma
1.6 choose—] altered from ‘chose—’
2.4 drawings,] comma altered from colon
3.1 to you] ‘to’ over ‘fo’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1310,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1310