Ɛpsilon

From H. W. Bates   29 September 1868

Royal Geographical Society | 15, Whitehall Place, S.W.

Sept 29 1868

My dear Mr Darwin

Have you heard of a Dr Semper, a Naturalist who spent 7 years in the Philippines & Caroline Archo; & who published some observations on coral reefs in Kœlliker & Siebold’s Zeitschrift?1

He is now in London for a few days & much wishes to be allowed to visit you for an hour or so. I find him a most pleasant young man, brim full of new & interesting information concerning volcanic phenomena, geographical distribution of animals &c. He sent large collections to Europe.

If you are able to see him any day during the next 10 or 12, please write to me & I will convey the answer to him.2

Yours sincerely | H W Bates

1
The zoologist Karl Gottfried Semper travelled in the Phillipines and Palau Islands from 1858 to 1865 (DSB). Bates probably refers to Semper 1863, which contained some remarks on coral reefs that CD cited in 1874 in the second edition of Coral reefs, pp. 228, 242. Semper 1863 was published in Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie, edited by Rudolf von Albert Kölliker and Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold.
2
No reply to Bates has been found. There is no record of a visit from Semper.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6399,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6399