To M. J. Berkeley   [March 1841]

12 Upper Gower St

Thursday

My dear Sir

I have received your very obliging note & likewise your enclosure of to day—

I am delighted that you have found the edible fungus botanically curious— I shall be much interested in reading your paper—1 I trust you corrected the language of such extracts, as you thought worth taking— I did not think any were so—

I write now to inform you that I have probably led you into one small error— I stated that the Fungus grows on the Fagus antarctica,2 but I am almost certain that the F. betuloides is the common tree of Tierra del Fuego, & as this Fungus abounds every where it must grow on this latter species— it may (& I believe does) grow on the F. antarctica. You can correct this in proof, if you think it desirable—3

I saw my brother-in law—Hensleigh Wedgwood, your former schoolfellow & collegian,4 to day & he begged to be very kindly remembered to you.—

Believe me dear Sir | Your’s truly obliged | C. Darwin

1
Berkeley had undertaken to describe CD’s Beagle fungus specimens and had already published one article (Berkeley 1840). The paper referred to, ‘On an edible fungus from Tierra del Fuego … ’ (Berkeley 1845), was read at the Linnean Society on 16 March 1841. For CD’s description, see Journal of researches, pp. 298–9.
2
See letter to M. J. Berkeley, [26 November 1840]. Fagus antarctica is a synonym of Nothofagus antarctica the Antarctic beech.
3
The correction was made in time. Fagus betuloides is a synonym of Nothofagus betuloides, Magellan's beech.
4
Both attended Rugby and Christ’s College, Cambridge.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 likewise] after del ‘your’
3.2 antarctica] 2 ‘c’ over ‘i’
3.4 this latter] ‘this’ over ‘that’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-591,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-591