Ɛpsilon

To A. A. Gould   2 June [1851]1

Down Farnborough Kent

June 2d.

Dear Sir

I received yesterday your note of the 9th. of April, & the small box of Californian cirripedia2 sent me through Mr. Cumming.3 I beg to thank you very sincerely for this new proof of your kind remembrance.— I crawl slowly on with my work: I have published my Fossil Lepadidæ,4 & will soon send you a copy. I shall in a month’s time go to press with the recent Lepadidæ or pedunculated Cirripedes, & I have worked through half the Sessile Cirripedes.— I will keep all your specimens together, & ultimately return them named in one parcel.

Believe me | My dear Sir | Yours sincerely obliged | Charles Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to CD’s Fossil Cirripedia (1851) (see n. 4, below). This letter was previously published from a copy in Correspondence vol. 5.
2
Balanus concavus, B. nubilus, and B. glandulus (Living Cirripedia (1854), pp. 235, 253, 265) are listed as Californian specimens from Gould’s collection. Many other specimens described in both volumes of Living Cirripedia were provided by Gould.
3
Hugh Cuming had also supplied CD with many specimens from his own collection of Cirripedia. CD had first asked Gould for specimens in 1848 (Correspondence vol. 4, letter to A. A. Gould, 3 September [1848]). Gould’s letter of 9 April 1851 has not been found.
4
A few copies of Fossil Cirripedia (1851) were available to CD in April, but he did not receive the rest of his copies until September (Correspondence vol. 5, letter to W. B. R. H. Dunker, 5 April [1851], and letter to Japetus Steenstrup, 9 September [1851]). CD used the term Lepadidae to refer to all stalked barnacles; it is roughly equivalent to the order Pedunculata. In modern taxonomy, the family Lepadidae is restricted to goose barnacles.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1430,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1430