Ɛpsilon

To George Johnston   6 September 1853

Down, Bromley, Kent.

Sept. 6, 1853.

My dear Sir

I am extremely much obliged to you for the Balani in the Gorgoniæ:1 I know only four species of this form and habit; one American and so out of the question, and by a strange chance your lot includes all 3 other kinds, which differ very materially from each other. One of them is so rare that I have never seen but one specimen and that without any habitat;2 and I did not know at all certainly the habitat of another, so your specimens are extremely useful to me. I presume that the two larger separated specimens in yellow Gorgoniæ3 came from same habitat: if they did not, will you kindly inform me; but if I do not hear, I will assume that all come from the same place, viz., near Madras.

I have lately received from Van Voorst your Flora of the Eastern Borders:4 I have looked at parts with much pleasure; you will, perhaps, think it odd, but I was particularly charmed with the Preface; its style called up to my mind the writing of old and best authors: I look forward with interest to the Zoological Part,5 which is more in my line.

Pray believe me, with many thanks My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin.

1
Johnston’s specimens were identified as Balanus calceolus (a synonym of Conopea calceola), B. cymbiformis, and B. navicula (Living Cirripedia (1854): 218–19, 221–2).
2
Balanus cymbiformis (Living Cirripedia (1854): 221). CD recorded that he had seen specimens from only Johnston’s and Hugh Cuming’s collections.
3
Balanus navicula (Living Cirripedia (1854): 221).
4
G. Johnston 1853. A copy is in the Darwin Library–Down. John Van Voorst was a major publisher of works in natural history.
5
Johnston died in 1855, leaving his work on the zoology of the eastern borders unfinished.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1531,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1531