Ɛpsilon

To Edward Forbes   23 January [1852?]

Down Farnborough Kent

Jany 23d

My dear Forbes

The Balanus from Bembridge, Barton & Headon beds is the same species B. unguiformis of Sowerby.1 The Headon specimens, about which I doubted are the best characterised & are so perfect, as to be worth preserving. The specimens shall be taken care of, & returned to you hereafter with others that I have of yours.—2

Most truly your’s | C. Darwin

1
CD described these fossil specimens from Eocene formations of the southern British coast and the Isle of Wight in Living Cirripedia (1854): 296–8. He included short descriptions of the fossil forms of Balanidae and Verrrucidae in Living Cirripedia (1854) because at this stage he was unsure that the Palaeontographical Society would publish a work on the fossil species of these groups.
2
Forbes was among those thanked in the preface of Fossil Cirripedia (1854) for having provided specimens.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1472,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1472