To Japetus Steenstrup 3 April 1851
Down Farnborough Kent
April 3d. 51.
Dear Sir
You will, perhaps, be surprised at not having before heard from me.— I have now finished with your truly valuable collection of fossil Cirripedia.1 My small monograph is printed off, & completed, but owing to the regulations of the Palæontological Society, the copies will not be distributed, till, I believe, the end of this month.2 The specimens are all ready to be packed up, & I delay returning them only that I may include copies of my monograph3 for yourself, Prof. Forchhammer4 & a third copy either (as you may think best) for the University or M. Angelin.—5 The foreign species, by the Rules of the Pal. Soc., are described in notes.6 I am not well satisfied with my monograph but I have done the work as well as I could: I suspect there is very little information added to your excellent memoir.—7 I shall soon publish a monograph on the recent Pedunculata, which, of course, I will send you.—
I have had occasion to remove several specimens, especially of the second lot, from the cards, & in refixing them, I have changed the positions of several so as to class them better, but I have always marked the localities, when the change affected this point. Owing to the fresh distribution of some of the specimens, some of the cards are returned blank, but all the specimens themselves are returned.— If you can spare a few specimens to deposit in the British Museum, I shd. be very glad.—
You were so good formerly as to offer to send me some recent specimens, but I am so immediately going to press, that I will not now trouble you to send them.—8 Allow me most sincerely to thank you & Prof. Forchhammer for having so long entrusted to me your most interesting specimens, which shall be returned (carriage Paid) by the first Packet, after I have got my copies of my Memoir to enclose.—
Believe me, with the truest respect Your’s gratefully | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Fossil Cirripedia (1851): A monograph on the fossil Lepadidæ, or, pedunculated cirripedes of Great Britain. By Charles Darwin. London: Palaeontographical Society. 1851.
Living Cirripedia (1851): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Lepadidæ; or, pedunculated cirripedes. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1851.
Steenstrup, Johannes Japetus Smith. 1837. Om forverdenens Dyrarter af de tvende familier Anatiferidæ (Gray) og Pollicipedidæ (Gray). Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift 1: 358- 66.
Steenstrup, Johannes Japetus Smith. 1838–9. Bidrag til Cirripedernes historie i fortid og Nutid. Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift 2: 396–415.
Woodward, Horace B. 1907. The history of the Geological Society of London. London: Geological Society.
Summary
Fossil cirripedes specimens being returned. Will send a copy of monograph [Fossil Cirripedia]. Discusses work on recent cirripedes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1397
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Johannes Japetus Smith (Japetus) Steenstrup
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen (NKS 3460 4to)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1397,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1397.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5