To the Lords of the Admiralty   [2–4 July 1866]1

[Down]

To the L of the Admiralty

We the undersigned having heard that one of H.MS ships under the comm of Capt. M accompanied by a naturalist will soon proceed to survey parts of the Str of Magellan,2 beg permission to call the attention of your Lordships to the fact that several years ago A. S. C.B.3 discovered at Gallegos River in the extreme S. part of Patagonia a great deposit of the bones of extinct species of quadrupeds. Many of these collected with the aid of Hydrographer Capt Richards R.N. & afterwards in the B. Museum.4 These [illeg] remains apparently belong to a more ancient period, than the collection by Mr Darwin on H.MS. Beagle5 & by other Naturalists, & currently of extreme interest to science—

Some of the fossils have been described by R. O. F.RS in the Transactions of the Philoso Soc for 1853, & their characters have been shown to be highly remarkable6

We the undersigned have been informed by Admiral S., that in the course of a few days several boat-loads of these bones could be collected, & thus if a week or two were given to the work, perfect specimens could probably be disinterred.7

We therefore earnestly request your L. to take into your favourable consideration the benefit which wd conferred on Natural Science, if orders were given for a Collection to be made of these fossils under the present favourable circumstances, by the aid of the Naturalist who accompanies Capt Mayne.

ADraft

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1866, and the letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 July [1866].
2
HMS Nassau, under the command of Richard Charles Mayne, surveyed the Straits of Magellan from 1866 to 1869; the naturalist on the voyage was Robert Oliver Cunningham (see letter from B. J. Sulivan, 27 June 1866 and nn. 6 and 7).
3
A. S. C.B.: Admiral Sulivan, CB. Bartholomew James Sulivan, who discovered the Gallegos fossils (see n. 4, below), was a rear admiral and a Commander of the Order of the Bath (DNB).
4
Sulivan had discovered the bones in January 1845, while commanding HMS Philomel (see letter from B. J. Sulivan, 27 June 1866 and n. 7). George Henry Richards served with Sulivan as lieutenant on HMS Philomel (Sulivan ed. 1896, p. 56); he became hydrographer to the Admiralty in 1863 (Modern English biography). Some of Sulivan’s fossils are described in the Catalogue of the fossil Mammalia in the British Museum (Natural History) 3: 167–8.
5
CD’s fossil mammal specimens from the Beagle voyage were described by Richard Owen in Fossil Mammalia.
6
R. O. F.RS: Richard Owen FRS. Sulivan’s fossils were sent to Owen who, in a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (Owen 1853), established a new genus, Nesodon, on the basis of the fossils.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 accompanied … naturalist] interl
1.2 will soon proceed] after del ‘is going to’; ‘soon’ interl [actually, moved from after ‘proceed’]
1.4 at Gallegos] ‘at’ pencil above del pencil ‘near the mouth of the’
1.4 in the extreme … Patagonia 1.5] interl
1.5 deposit of the bones] ‘of the’ pencil above del pencil ‘of fossil [above del ‘Fossil’]’
1.5 species of] interl pencil
1.5 quadrupeds] above del ‘forms of Mammalia’
1.5 quadrupeds. Many] ‘. Many’ pencil above del pencil ‘, many’
1.6 these collected] ‘these’ pencil below del pencil ‘which he’
1.6 with the aid … R.N.] interl; ‘Hydrographer’ interl
1.6 & afterwards] after del ‘the’
1.6 afterwards] below del ‘deposited’
1.7 These [illeg]] ‘[illeg]’ interl pencil
1.8 collection … Beagle & 1.8] interl pencil above del pencil ‘many Mammalian [above del ‘other coll’] remains of *allied animals, [below del ‘extinct quads;’ above del other allied Mammalia] brought from S. America’
1.8 other] after del ‘the’
1.8 , & … fossils 2.1] interl pencil above del ‘attached to the last expedition of H.MS. Beagle under the care of Capt’
2.1 have been … remarkable 2.2] added in margin, pencil
3.1 We the undersigned] interl pencil del pencil ‘& are consequently [added and del pencil] of extreme interest to Science.’
3.1 in] after del ‘I’
3.2 bones] pencil above del pencil ‘extraordinary fossils [above del ‘remains’]’
3.2 collected] above del ‘collected’
3.3 perfect] after del pencil ‘singularly’
3.3 could probably] ‘could’ after del ‘could’; ‘probably’ interl
4.1 We … Mayne. 4.4] on a separate sheet, pencil
4.2 the benefit … conferred] pencil above del pencil ‘advantages to’
4.2 orders … for a] interl pencil; ‘a’ over ‘the’
4.3 Collection] after ‘extensive’ interl pencil and del pencil
4.3 to be made] interl pencil
4.3 under] after del pencil ‘to be made *by the Naturalist accompanying Capt Mayne [interl pencil]’
4.3 present] altered from ‘presently’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5142,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5142