Ɛpsilon

To T. M. Reade   9 May 1874

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

May 9 1874

My dear Sir

I much wish that I could give any aid in your investigation on that most interesting subject the Drift; but I cannot tell you whether any list of the shells of South America.1

Since writing these words I have remembered that at the end of Vol 1 of the Narrative of the Survey. Voy. of H.M.S Adventure & Beagle, 1839 Colborn & Co there is a catalogue of the shells collected in the southern parts.2

I was much struck with the luxuriant appearance of all the marine productions in T. del Fuego,—in the large size of the Patellæ & Fissurellæ, & by the presence of large volutes.3

I shall probably receive your pamphlet tomorrow.4

The interesting case of the tree does not particularly concern me.

Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

LS(A)

2
See Narrative 1: 545–56.
3
CD described the large size of the marine gastropod molluscs in the genus Patella (true limpet) and the families Fissurellidae (keyhole limpets), and Volutidae (predatory sea snails) in the southern hemisphere in Narrative 3: 611–12, and Journal of researches 2d ed., p. 243.
4
T. M. Reade 1874–82; see letter from T. M. Reade, 7 May 1874 and n. 2.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.2 1839 … Co] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9450,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9450