Ɛpsilon

To J. T. Smith   4 January 1860

Down Bromley Kent

Jan 4th.— 60

Dear Sir

I am much obliged for your kind note.—1 I remember well reading some years ago I think in Geolog. Trans. your memoir, & admiring the care which you had bestowed on the subject, & the anomalous nature of the Ventriculidæ.—2 I shd be much obliged if you would take the trouble to point out the considerations referred to, & if you have a copy to spare I shd be grateful for it.— I am, however, just at present so much engaged, that it is not likely that I shall be able immediately to study your memoir again, but my own interest will prevent me forgetting the subject—

With my best thanks I remain dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin

1
The letter has not been found.
2
CD had misremembered, as Smith’s work on the Ventriculidae of the Chalk (fossilised siliceous sponges from the Cretaceous period) was published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History 20 (1847): 73–97; 176–91, and not in the Transactions of the Geological Society of London. It was published as a book in 1848 (J. T. Smith 1848); there is a copy in the Darwin Library–Down. The name Ventriculidae is no longer used for the family of glass sponges as it had earlier been assigned to a family of snails; it has been replaced by the order Lychniscosa. For more on Smith’s collections and their classification, see Long et al. 2003. See also Correspondence vol. 8, letter from J. T. Smith, 6 January 1860.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.6 immediately] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2637F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2637F