Ɛpsilon

To George Busk   13 September [1871]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Sept. 13th

My dear Busk

I thank you heartily for your letter, which together with your Catalogue gives me, I think, all the information which I require.2 In a few days or a week I shall write the little which I require to say, & I will then perhaps ask you another question, for I suspect that in one place in your note you have writtnen word vibracula, for avicularia.—3 As I what I shall say will hardly be more than a page, if I require it, I daresay you will allow me to send the M.S. to you, as I shall be then certain not to misrepresent you.—4

with cordial thanks | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from George Busk, 10 September 1871.
2
CD refers to the letter from George Busk, 10 September 1871, and Busk’s Catalogue of marine Polyzoa in the collection of the British Museum (Busk 1852–4).
3
CD probably refers to this passage: ‘With respect to the opposite or fixe⁠⟨⁠d⁠⟩⁠ beak—such a thing ⁠⟨⁠is b⁠⟩⁠y no means universally ⁠⟨⁠pre⁠⟩⁠sent even in well marked ⁠⟨⁠vibr⁠⟩⁠acula especially when ⁠⟨⁠the m⁠⟩⁠andible is rounded’, as only avicularia have mandibles (the articulated part of the ‘beak’).
4
CD probably sent Busk a draft of the section relating to marine Bryozoa that he added to Origin 6th ed., p. 194; see letter from George Busk, 16 October 1871.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

or a week] interl
the M.S.] above del ‘it’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7937,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7937