Ɛpsilon

To J. W. Flower   [11 March 1851?]1

Down | Farnborough | Kent

Tuesday

My dear Sir

I just write one line to catch post, to thank you sincerely for your specimens arrived all safe & for your kindly promised additions.— 2

Pray keep the Books, as long as ever you like; but if you have quite finished with them, my Phaeton will be next Monday morning at the George IV Inn near R. Station at Croydon & they can thus be returned.—3

Does not Mr Morris4 want the Coralline–Books?

Yours in Haste | With many thanks | C. Darwin

1
The date is conjectured from the presumed relationship between this letter and the letter to J. W. Flower, 23 March [1851] (Correspondence vol. 5), in which CD apologised for failing to reply to an invitation from Flower as he had been ill with influenza. CD’s Health diary (Down House MS) states that he had influenza from 16 to 21 March 1851; the Tuesday before 16 March 1851 was 11 March.
2
The specimens were probably fossil cirripedes. In his letter to Flower of 23 March [1851] (Correspondence vol. 5), CD confirmed that they were not new species; he did, however, intend to make a selection of them to augment his own collection, which was to be presented to the British Museum at the completion of his monograph (see Correspondence vol. 5, letter to Robert Fitch, 24 January [1851]). No intervening note from Flower has been found.
3
The George IV Inn was in Addiscombe Road, Croydon, not far from East Croydon railway station (Post Office directory of the six home counties). Flower lived at Park Hill, Croydon.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.1 but] after del ‘& whe’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1395F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1395F