From Dawson Turner to Ellen Hutchins   23 Nov 1807

Madam

The letter with which you were so kind as to favour me last June reached Yarmouth just as I was upon the point of leaving it upon a tour to the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, whence I am but lately returned. I much regret that this circumstance has prevented me from taking a more early opportunity of thanking you for your kindness, & has probably subjected me to a charge of neglect, of which I should be extremely sorry to be guilty. It gave me great pleasure to find that the few special specimens which I took the liberty of sending you through Mr Mackay proved acceptable to you, &, as my summer excursion has furnished me with the opportunity of making great additions, it will gratify me much if you will allow me to send you such as you may still wish to possess, & will point out the most secure & ready means of conveying them to you. I do not wish you to regard this offer as confined to marine plants alone, for I have at present spare duplicates of most of our scarce alpine plants as well as of a great many Lichens & Mosses and I should be happy to supply any you may wish for. I am extremely obliged to you for the two beautiful specimens contained in your letter: they both appear to me to belong to Fucus laceratus [Cryptopleura ramosa], but constitute a variety which I had never seen before, and which far surpasses all the rest in beauty. Should you have met with more of it since that time, which you do not want for any other correspondent, I should feel myself indebted for what you could spare. I am at this time anxious to figure in my Historia Fucorum, of which 3 numbers are already published, the beautiful Fucus which you sent me some time since through Mr Mackay & which in colour & in its proliferous mode of growth bears at first sight some affinity to F rubens [Phyllophora crispa]. Previous, however, to publishing it I have to beg your permission to mention your name as the person who discovered it, & to request that you would take the trouble of favouring me with such particulars respecting it as you may remember. I wish also to know where & at what time of the year it was found. The lower part seems to have a midrib, of which there are no traces in the upper part. I should be glad also to know if you have given it any name by which you are desirous of it being called. Should you have found it in any plenty I would take the liberty of begging for a few more specimens for my different friends, but indeed I should be thankful for anything, however common, from your part of the coast, as it would give me the opportunity of seeing to what changes the same plants are liable between Norfolk and Bantry Bay. Of shells our coast is so unproductive that to offer what are found here would in reality be offering nothing: at the same time if you collect the British species I could procure you many from my different correspondents. We have many Sertulariae [hydroids], & I am not ill provided with duplicates, which are much at your service.

I will also add that it will at all times make me happy to be honoured with your correspondence, & to have opportunities of testifying that respect

with which I am

Madam Your much obliged

& very faithful Servant,

Dawson Turner.

Yarmouth 23rd November 1807