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To G. R. Waterhouse   [4 or 11 September 1842]

12 Up. Gower St

Sunday

My dear Waterhouse

I really can hardly express how much obliged I am to you for the shamefully great amount of trouble you have taken for me, and for my nephew,1 to whom, I am sure, the collection will give infinite pleasure. My cabinet must have cost you a very great deal of trouble.— And the book on bees too!

Thank you also for the feather for my Father.—

I am in a terrible state of bustle, but the work & excitement hitherto has given me the strength of a giant.—

You know you have a few Coleopt: of mine to name—2 And at some future time, one more empty case (as the one you have sent goes to my nephew). The case might be sent, any time when ready & directed to the Athenæum Club.

Gray3 was asking me not to forget Brit. Mus. in distributing my insects— it is entirely in your hands so I pass on the memento to you.—

With many thanks | my dear Waterhouse | Most truly Yours | C. Darwin

1
One of the four sons of CD’s sister Marianne Parker. At this time they were aged 17 (Robert), 15 (Henry, Jr), 13 (Francis), and 10 (Charles).
2
Waterhouse had described most of the beetles of the Beagle voyage in a series of articles published between 1837 and 1842. Two additional descriptive articles appeared in 1843 and 1845 and Waterhouse’s son, Frederick Herschel Waterhouse, described further specimens undetermined by his father (‘Descriptions of new Coleoptera of geographical interest collected by Charles Darwin, Esq.’, Journal of the Linnean Society of London (Zoology) 14 (1879): 530–4).
3
John Edward Gray. The reference to the British Museum suggests that Waterhouse was still at the Zoological Society. He was appointed assistant in the Mineralogical Department at the British Museum in 1843.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

4.2 more] after del illeg
4.3 & directed] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-641,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-641