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From Francis Trevelyan Buckland   [1865–6]1

Dear–Mr Darwin.

I was most pleased that you were good enough to speak to me the other day at the museum—2 ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ favour.

Please to—sign the enclosed and return it to me as above—I am very glad that our Oxford Chancellor joins the Society.3

Yours most obliged | F Buckland—

I should so like to show you my museum you have not touched oysters in your book4   I could show you some curious things thus

diagram

A. Falmouth growth

B. French growth—quite different

Yours ever | F Buckland

Footnotes

1
The date range is established by the reference to the Society for the Acclimatisation of Animals, Birds, Fishes, Insects, and Vegetables within the United Kingdom and by the reference to oyster culture and Buckland’s museum (see nn. 3 and 4, below).
2
Buckland probably refers to the British Museum, which CD frequently visited when in London.
3
Buckland refers to the Society for the Acclimatisation of Animals, Birds, Fishes, Insects, and Vegetables within the United Kingdom. The society was founded by Buckland in 1860 and came to an end in 1866 (Ritvo 1990, p. 239). The chancellor of the University of Oxford was Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley. No record of his membership of the society has been found, but his son Edward Henry Stanley had been a subscriber since 1862 and was vice-president from 1863 to 1865 (Annual Report of the Society for the Acclimatisation of Animals, Birds, Fishes, Insects, and Vegetables within the United Kingdom 1865). The enclosure has not been found.
4
Buckland refers to the South Kensington Museum. After his appointment as scientific referee to the museum in May 1865, Buckland moved his collection illustrating fish and oyster culture there (Bompas 1885, p. 153). Buckland also refers to Origin. In Variation 2: 280, CD cited Buckland for information on regional variation in oysters.

Bibliography

Bompas, George C. 1885. Life of Frank Buckland. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Ritvo, Harriet. 1990. The animal estate: the English and other creatures in the Victorian age. London: Penguin Books.

Summary

Was glad to see CD at museum.

Asks CD to sign and return enclosed item.

CD did not cover oysters in his book; FB can point out curious facts about them.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-7045
From
Francis Trevelyan (Frank) Buckland
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 160: 364
Physical description
ALS 4pp inc

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7045,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7045.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18 (Supplement)

letter

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