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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Leonard Jenyns   [November 1841]

Wednesday

Dear Jenyns

I was delighted to receive your note.— You are the most punctual & faithful of men.— I wish I could pay the same compliment to our good friend Bell.— He is, however, at work & was certain a short time since he would have a number out before yours.— I have hopes he will soon be ready, though I do not at all expect before yours.—1

With respect to the number of Plates, shall you think me very stingy, if I limit you to five or six— the money has gone at a quicker rate than I anticipated, so I hope this will content you—2

You will find in my Journal p. 13 & 14 some account of the habits of the Diodon (Nor. 132)3 —& I send the notes, I made at the time, which very briefly relate to colour.— You can extract shorten, & alter anything you think worthy of insertion.— I would have corrected a copy, but I really do not know whether any, or how much, is worth repeating.— Please use your own judgment.— & bring with you, when you come to town, the three original pages of notes.4

I am very glad to hear you have been better this summer.— I have gained much strength, & have been twice to the Geological evening meetings—but I find I must give them up, as I must remain quiet in the evenings, or be utterly knocked up next day, which is a very great bore.

Goodbye my dear Jenyns | Ever yours | C. Darwin 12 Up. Gower St.—

Footnotes

The final number of Fish (No. 4) was published in April 1842. Bell’s first number of Reptiles was published in August 1842 (Freeman 1977, p. 30).
Eventually there were nine plates in Fish, No. 4, which, with an appendix, came to more than double the number of pages of the others.
Three species of Diodon are described in Fish, No. 4, pp. 150–1.
The three pages of notes made during the Beagle voyage are preserved in DAR 30.1: 22–4.

Bibliography

Fish: Pt IV of The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London. 1840–2. [Vols. 2,3,4,9]

Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.

Reptiles: Reptiles. Pt 5 of The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle. By Thomas Bell. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1843.

Summary

Details regarding volume on Fish.

Sends notes on Diodon.

Must give up attending Geological Society evening meetings; knocks him up.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-611
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Leonard Jenyns/Leonard Blomefield
Sent from
London, Upper Gower St, 12
Source of text
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 611,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-611.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 2

letter