Ɛpsilon

To T. C. Eyton   25 October [1855]

Down Farnborough Kent

Oct. 25th

Dear Eyton

Crayford1 is a good way from here & I do not happen to know a soul at all in that direction, & therefore I am very sorry to say I can neither give, nor procure, any information regarding Mrs. Shaw.—2

I am delighted to hear that you have begun to think of Dogs,3 which subject would, I shd. think, make an excellent continuation of your capital Pig-skeleton researches.—4

What a museum you will have!5 and most truly shall I some day enjoy seeing it. Pray give my kind remembrances to Mrs. Eyton,6 whom, it is very long since I have had the pleasure of seeing. Ah the good old times of Entomology, I have never enjoyed anything in Natural History so much since.7

Most truly your’s | Ch. Darwin

1
A village near Dartford, Kent, about ten miles north-east of Down.
2
There is no information about Mrs Shaw, but a John Shaw is listed among the gentry living in Crayford (Post Office directory of the six home counties 1855).
3
CD cited Eyton, ‘who has had much experience with dogs,’ concerning their period of gestation in Variation 1: 30.
4
See Variation 1: 74, where CD reproduced a table from Eyton 1837, p. 23, showing the difference in the number of vertebrae and ribs in the different kinds of pigs.
5
Eyton had collected extensively in many different fields of natural history. In 1855 he established a museum at the family seat at Eyton, Shropshire (DNB).
7
Eyton had been one of CD’s insect-collecting friends when they were Cambridge undergraduates. He was also a Shropshire neighbour. See Correspondence vol. 1.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1769,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1769