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BULLETIN OF 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

(NATURAL HISTORY) 



HISTORICAL SERIES 

VOL. 3 

1962-1969 



TRUSTEES OF 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

LONDON: I97I 



DATES OF PUBLICATION OF THE PARTS 



No. 


i. 


31 August 1962 


No. 


2. 


31 October 1962 


No. 


3- 


30 September 1965 


No. 


4- 


30 June 1966 


No. 


5- 


21 March 1967 


No. 


6. 


3 May 1968 


No. 


7- 


31 December 1969 


No. 


8. 


29 July 1969 



Printed in England by Staples Printers Limited at their Kettering, Northants, establishment 



CONTENTS 

HISTORICAL SERIES VOLUME 3 

PAGE 

No. i. Harry Govier Seeley and the Karroo Reptiles. By W. E. Swinton. i 



No. 2. Supplementary Letters of Sir Joseph Banks. Edited by Warren R. 
Dawson. 



4i 



No. 3. Supplementary Letters of Sir Joseph Banks. Second Series. Edited 

by Warren R. Dawson. 71 

« 
No. 4. Eggs of the Great Auk. By P. M. L. & J. W. Tomkinson. 95 

No. 5. Darwin's Notebooks on Transmutation of Species. Part VI Pages 
Excised by Darwin. Edited by Sir Gavin de Beer, M. J. Row- 
lands and B. M. Skramovsky. 129 

No. 6. Charles Darwin on the Routes of Male Humble Bees. By R. B. 

Freeman. 177 

No. 7. The Reeves Collection of Chinese Fish Drawings. By P. J. P. 

Whitehead. 191 

No. 8. A history of the first 100 years of the Mineral Collection in the British 

Museum. By W. Campbell Smith. 235 

Index to Volume 3 261 



kS.-M.V*0' 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND 
THE KARROO REPTILES 



W. E. SWINTON 




BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 
HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 1 

LONDON: 1962 




Harry Govier Seeley 
[1839-1909] 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND 
THE KARROO REPTILES 



BY 

WILLIAM ELGIN SWINTON 



Pp. i-3g ' Frontispiece ; 5 Text-figures 



BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 
HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 1 

LONDON: 1962 



THE BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

(NATURAL history), instituted in 1949, is 
issued in five series, corresponding to the Departments 
of the Museum, and an Historical series. 

Parts will appear at irregular intervals as they become 
ready. Volumes will contain about three or four 
hundred pages, and will not necessarily be completed 
within one calendar year. 

This paper is Vol. 3, No. 1 of the Historical series. 



itffffe 




Trustees of the British Museum 1962 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

Issued August ig62 Price Thirteen Shillings 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO 

REPTILES 

By W. E. SWINTON 

Harry Govier Seeley was born in London on 18th February, 1839. He was the 
second son of Richard Hovill Seeley, a goldsmith, by Richard's second wife, Mary 
Govier, who was of Huguenot descent. 

Richard was a son of Leonard Benton Seeley, a London publisher and a phil- 
anthropist, so that the young Seeley was born into a family where scholarship, a 
love of books and of fine art were appreciated. His cousin was Sir John Richard 
Seeley (1834-95) a distinguished historian and essayist. 

As a boy he was greatly influenced by lectures. They stimulated his curiosity and 
directed his reading, and the times were rich in scientific orators. Sir Richard Owen, 
Edward Forbes, Sir Andrew Ramsay and W. E. Brayley were among his mentors. 
A course of lectures by Brayley, on Terrestrial Magnetism, first awakened his interest 
in Geology and the pages of Lyell's Principles of Geology became his first hunting 
ground. While apprenticed to his uncle, John Seeley, who was a conveyancing 
barrister, he became very interested in comparative osteology, preparing the skeletons 
of birds and small animals and even fish, noting the differences of articulation of 
the bones. 

Soon he discovered the wealth of materials available for study in the Natural 
History Departments of the British Museum and he found a friend there in S. P. 
Woodward who was for seventeen years (1848-65) an assistant in the Department of 
Geology. 

Many of the lectures he attended (especially those of J. Forbes Ramsay) were at 
the Royal School of Mines, and these led him, when he was about twenty years of age, 
to enter Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in search of wider knowledge. 

There is no record of his studies there, indeed he may well have been a dilettante 
and he certainly never took a degree. Nevertheless his keen interest in the natural 
sciences attracted Professor Adam Sedgwick's attention and in 1859 ne was appointed 
museum assistant to the Professor. 

There is little doubt that at first his tasks were menial ; cleaning, tidying and 
arranging the rocks and fossils in the Woodwardian Museum. But the wealth of 
material awaiting attention was an incentive to the bright young student who tried 
hard to understand the nature and the provenance of the things in front of him. 
Soon Sedgwick could report that Seeley " could not only be trusted to arrange 
specimens in the Museum but could occasionally take his place in the lecture-room ". 

Until 1873, when Adam Sedgwick died, Seeley was assistant, deputy and amanu- 
ensis, all in one, in both class-room and museum. Yet frequently he was heard in 
his own right, as when he gave courses of popular lectures to young people (see 
Text-fig. 1). It is easy to see that in this congenial atmosphere the young man 
developed in several directions. He became skilled in handling specimens and 
appreciative of the need for full documentation of their occurrence and history ; he 

HIST. 3, I. I 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

S€iESf€S 
LE€TSRES FOE CSlLiRES. 



SIX LECTURES 

Will bo delivered on 

TUESDAY AND FRIDAY EVENINGS, 

AT HALF-PAST SIX O'CLOCK, in the 

LECTURE HALL, ALEXANDRA STREET. 

Friday, March. 3, 

1 . How the Earth cries when its face is washed. 

Timday, March 7, 

2. How the Earth has its bed warmed. 

Friday, March 10, 
9. On a Noah's Ark 

Tuudiy, March 14, 

4. How the Crocodile got changed into a Rocking-horse. 

Friday, March 17, 

5. On Dragons. 

Tuesday, March 21, 
G. What tho Fisherman told his children about the Fish. 

These Lectures will be Illustrated with Toys and 
familiar Animals, by 

larry <&. $«ltg, (Esq., <£."&£. 

St J.ibn'a College. 



.â– tJm'ss.'cn for C/eldreu One Penny each lecture. Their friends- 

Sixpence each lecture. 

The Gallery rcscrrrd at a Shilling each lecture. 

Fig. i 

grew instinctively to recognize differences between fragmentary fossils ; he learned 
the lessons of ecology, that the fossil is only part of a greater whole that can yet be 
rediscovered ; and that all these matters were capable of being interpreted and 
transmitted in comparatively simple form to audiences that often became enthusi- 
astic. The experience in the lecture rooms of Cambridge was to fortify him in a 
career in which the spoken word was a serious rival to the written one, and Seeley 
was a prolific writer. 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 5 

That he had personal problems to conquer seems clear. Though some have re- 
membered his lectures as engagingly simple and original, others, notably H. B. 
Woodward, have recorded his style as dry and monotonous. Indeed, his single- 
handed life in the museum for nearly twelve years might seem to have engendered 
such a style. Yet this was not so and the acute attention he gave to his tasks 
seems to have increased the liveliness of his mind and prompted him to ingenuity 
in method and expression. It did much more than that too, for it led him, as a 
magnet draws the needle, into the field in which he was to make so many funda- 
mental discoveries. 

The Woodwardian Museum collections were especially rich in material that had 
been obtained from the " coprolite pits " of the Cambridge Greensand. These pits 
had been extensively worked for the phosphate which was derived from the nodules 
but the diggings revealed a considerable fauna, no doubt derived from the Upper 
Gault by erosion. Many of these fossils were phosphatized and while there are 
numerous Invertebrates represented, the Vertebrates form a remarkable series, 
particularly of reptiles of sea, land and air. One bird, Enaliosaurus , is also known. 
Today the best exposure of the Cambridge Greensand is at Barrington, 6 miles 
SW. of Cambridge, though fossils are scarce in it. 

It was this series that particularly appealed to Seeley. The specimens were 
intriguing, their nature was virtually unknown and the fauna unpublished. 

To this task the young curator applied himself with vigour and in 1869 there 
appeared, printed at the University Press, Index to the Fossil Remains of Aves, 
Ornithosauria and Reptilia from the Secondary System of Strata arranged in the Wood- 
wardian Museum of The University of Cambridge by Harry Govier Seeley. 

The volume has an appreciative preface by Professor Adam Sedgwick, still Wood- 
wardian Professor of Geology after fifty-two years. Sedgwick in fact justifies his 
retention of office " despite infirmity of sight and feebleness of health " by the 
excellent work of his " friend and assistant ". This preface is historically valuable. 
It details the circumstances in which many of the Museum's treasures were obtained 
and shows a width of collection. He had an assistant, Mr. Henry Keeping, later 
well known as a collector, and the start in excavation and collecting that Seeley made 
in and around the phosphate diggings was energetically maintained and extended 
by Keeping. Seeley was thus left in greater peace to concentrate upon his researches. 
This Index is tribute to both museum work and research. Ornithosauria (now known 
as Pterosauria and which are reptiles) ; Aves ; Dinosauria ; Dicynodontia (from 
South Africa) ; Ichthyosauria ; Crocodilia ; Plesiosauria ; Chelonia ; and Lacer- 
tilia are the main headings. Among them Seeley was responsible for the naming 
of nine new genera and eighty-five new species. The work itself is meticulous. 
The young seeker for knowledge was now a fit member of a generation in which 
palaeontological discovery was accelerating and during which it tended to outrun 
nomenclatural appreciation. 

The Index was followed, in 1870, by a review of the flying reptiles so abundantly 
available in the Museum. This too bore the imprint of the Cambridge University 
Press and was titled Ornithosauria. In this work, which is still a standard book of 

HIST. 3, I. l § 



6 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

reference for the Cambridge Pterodactyl fauna, Seeley substantiated many of the 
names first published in the Index. 

His days in Cambridge were, however, coming to an end. Adam Sedgwick was 
at long last about to relinquish his chair through death, and whether Seeley feared the 
prospects under his successor or was already straining at the restrictions of a collec- 
tion very well known to him cannot now be said. At any rate he gave up his 
Assistantship in the Museum and came to London in 1872. J. E. Gray had recently 
invited him to join the Zoology Department of the British Museum and T. H. 
Huxley offered to recommend him for the Geological Survey, but he refused both. 

The next few years saw him engaged in a fury of writing and literary work. No 
longer the scientific sponge accumulating the wisdom of others, 01 the museum 
hack learning by slow experience, he seems to have determined that the reservoir 
of his knowledge should be placed at the disposal of others. 

The time was fruitful along three lines. Firstly, in 1872, he married. His 
bride was Eleonora Jane, the only daughter of William Mitchell, of St. George's 
Lodge, Bath. 

The family of the marriage consists of four daughters, all still alive. The eldest 
is Maud, who married Arthur Smith Woodward, for many years Keeper of the 
Department of Geology in the British Museum (Natural History) and who was a 
distinguished Vertebrate Palaeontologist. He retired in 1924 and was knighted 
in that year. 

In the year following the birth of Maud another daughter was born, Brynhilda, 
later known as Belinda. She took up art and her reconstructions and drawings 
of the flying reptiles, made to scale from careful measurements of the bones, are 
among the illustrations of Dragons of the Air. 

Several years later a third daughter was born, Phyllis, whose interests in Geology 
enabled her to lecture for her father on occasions, and she was for a short time his 
assistant at Queen's College, Harley Street, London. 

In 1883 the family left London for Sevenoaks where in the following year they 
were joined by a fourth daughter, Sylvia. She became scientific secretary to the 
late Dr. H. M. Ami, who founded the Canadian School of Prehistory in Ottawa, and 
for five successive summer seasons carried on excavations on the world-famous site 
at Les Eyzies in the Dordogne. Sylvia is now on the staff of the Journal of the 
Royal Canadian Geographical Society for whom she compiled the Mirror of Canada. 

Each of these daughters has inherited in some degree some aspect of the ability 
of their father. All of them remember vividly the instruction they gained from him. 
The colour of the sky, the nature of the tides, the formation of sand, the constitution 
of rocks, and the erosive forces seen in every day life were all subjects on which, 
inevitably, he enlightened them. It is clear that all his life Seeley was the born 
teacher and he was fortunate in being able to attract so many born pupils. 

The family home at this time was first in Sevenoaks and later in Kensington, and 
secure in the comfort of this, surrounded by love and devotion, he was able to 
produce a remarkable amount of work. This second aspect of these first London 
years saw the publication of many important books and names for fossils. 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 7 

He was appointed to lecture for the Gilchrist Trust and for many years he lectured 
in most of the principal towns in England and Wales, once or twice in Scotland 
and Ireland. He, and Sir Robert Ball, the astronomer, were two of the most popular 
of the Gilchrist lecturers. Seeley's delivery was excellent and clear, whether he 
was speaking in a class-room or to an audience of 3,000 in some of the northern 
towns. On these tours he became very interested in the various British industries 
and he delighted to tell his children how some of the many things that he had seen 
were made. 

In the early days of his lecturing he used scale diagrams, many of them drawn and 
coloured by Mrs. Seeley from text-books. Then came the use of a lantern and slides 
and soon after, the dissolving views. In lecturing on extinct types of life he con- 
tinued to use diagrams on which he outlined the principal features in french charcoal 
bringing the bones into high relief. 

With his widespread interest in education he came into contact with Miss Cons 
and Miss Martineau, who were running the College for working men in the Morley 
Memorial Hall, in what is now known as the Old Vic. Emma Cons's niece, Lilian 
Bayliss, who assisted her, arranged for variety turns to follow the scientific lectures 
which were given once a week by various scientific friends of Miss Cons. Miss 
Bayliss was not satisfied with variety but planned to bring Shakespeare to the 
Old Vic, and this desire she lived to see amply fulfilled. 

Seeley was for many years a regular contributor to The Educational Times. 

He was a leading authority on Dinosaurs and was responsible for the names 
Saurischia and Ornithischia by which the two main groups are now known. He 
made researches on marine reptiles and founded the genera Ophthalmosaurus, 
Muraenosaurus and Cryptocleidus. Pterosaurs still continued to fascinate him and 
he made further researches upon their anatomy. 

His energies were even greater than needed for these studies and writings. In 
1884 he completely revised (and almost rewrote) Phillips' Manual of Geology. In 
1886 he produced The Freshwater Fishes of Europe and in 1887 he wrote Factors 
in Life for the S.P.C.K. and began the great series of papers in the Philosophical 
Transactions of the Royal Society sometimes classed together as Fossil Reptilia, 
1887. The third facet of these years was the preparation that they gave him for 
more permanent and influential employment. His talents were widely displayed 
and it soon became obvious to many in the academic world that here was a man 
worthy of their mettle who was fitted to share the professorial benches with them. 

In 1896, Seeley was appointed Professor of Geography in King's College, London. 
If at first it seems that his studentship in the law and his assistantship among Cam- 
bridge fossils formed a strange prelude to this Chair, experience soon proved him 
to have a new approach to the subject and a considerable appeal to the students. 
He explained Geography to his hearers much as afterwards he explained natural 
events to his growing children. He analysed the subject, dealt succinctly and 
simply with each aspect and reassembled the whole in a logical and instructive 
manner. By starting his course with geomorphology he at once formed a logical 
basis for his science and set a pattern for his successors. 

Soon his geography class became well known and he was called to be Professor 



8 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

of Geography and Geology (whilst still holding his King's College appointment) at 
Queen's College in Harley Street, London. 

His long voluntary experience in popularizing now stood him in good stead, as 
generations of his students have testified. He had also a capacity for hard work. 
Three simultaneous chairs did not sap his energies ; rather they increased his 
opportunities. 

In 1881 he was Dean of Queen's College. Ten years later, still busy in his pro- 
fessional duties, he was still looking for fresh fields of teaching endeavour and in 
1890 he had become Lecturer in Geology and Mineralogy in the Royal Indian En- 
gineering College at Coopers Hill, succeeding Martin Duncan as professor in the 
following year, a post he held until the College was closed in 1906. 

Even so he was still carrying on a vigorous public lecturing programme between 
1880 and 1890. In 1885 he founded the London Geological Field Class of which he 
remained the Lecturer and Leader for twenty-one years. In 1891 he produced a 
most useful Handbook of the Geology of London, primarily for this group. 

In 1896 he succeeded Thomas Wiltshire as Professor of Geology and Mineralogy 
in King's College, thus joining this Chair to that he already held of Geography. 
This remarkable duality was his until his last few months in 1908. 

Yet this narrative of his academic record and duties, speaking as it does of endless 
preparations, meetings, lectures, demonstrations and field classes, conceals one of 
his great achievements and the beginning of a new phase and interest in museums 
and universities in Britain. 

If we turn back the clock and look again at that Index he produced on Wood- 
wardian fossils, we can read on p. 136 the following few lines : 

... " Fossils from the Alexander River, South Africa. 

1 cast of skull of Dicynodon lacerticeps (Owen) 

2 cast of skull of Dicynodon testudiceps (Owen) 

3 cast of skull of Dicynodon strigiceps (Owen) " ... 

These were but casts and of forms that had already been fully described by 
Richard Owen in 1844, 1845, and 1855 respectively under the names given in the 
Index. (The author's name should not therefore be in brackets.) All the type 
specimens were then in the British Museum at Bloomsbury and are now at South 
Kensington. 

It is unlikely that the casts themselves stimulated Seeley to explore the wider 
fields of the Karroo but during his tenure of multiple professorships, he must have 
become aware of the growing tide of material that was being unearthed in South 
Africa and which bore witness to a vast new fauna. 

Most of the specimens were being discovered accidentally by farmers turning 
over their soil or observing the materials washed out in dongas (or gullies). It must 
have become increasingly obvious that a determined collector could obtain large and 
related series and, knowing the stratigraphical and osteological environment, could 
contribute to a more satisfactory understanding of the whole. 

It was precisely this that Seeley determined to do, with of course the general picture 
of geology and geography in his mind. He prepared a scheme which found official 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 9 

favour with the Royal Society's Government Grant Committee so that he was 
enabled by a grant of £200 to visit the reptilian fossils in St. Petersburg and Moscow 
and then to proceed to Cape Colony to make his own observations and collections. 

Fortunately, through the care and kindness of his family, the series of character- 
istic letters that he wrote from Africa is preserved. With the exception of a few 
paragraphs of family interest these are printed here for the first time. They con- 
stitute a unique record both historically and geologically and throw valuable light 
on some of the fundamental fossils in the story of reptilian and mammalian evolution, 
besides shedding some interesting side-lights on the South Africa of that time. 

The spelling and punctuation have been left as they are in the originals, but the 
numerous geographical and geological sketches with which the letters were peppered 
have had to be omitted, except those of actual fossils. 

Poste Restante 
(Claridges Hotel,) Capetown, 
26 July 1889 
My darling wife, 

I was very glad to get your letter, and Mauds and to hear all your news. I got it 
this Friday evening after spending the afternoon with Dr. Gill at the Observatory. 
I find that his is an admiralty appointment so that he is quite independent of the 
Parliament, and he is evidently a very able man. He told me that he had always 
been of a mechanical turn making clocks as a boy and using his hands, and narrated 
that dining once with Huggins he met Naysmith, and that they travelled together 
in an omnibus, when Naysmith got out, and at their journeys end the 'bus man 
demanded payment for Naysmith. Next morning Gill got a letter from Naysmith 
stating that he had placed £1000 to his credit for astronomical apparatus. And on 
calling to thank him and ask to what he owed this singular liberality, Naysmith 
replied, " to your thumbs sir ; for I felt sure that a man with such thumbs would 
be able to use the money to good account for the purpose which I intend." The 
Gills are delightful people, and I spend next Sunday afternoon there. I met there 
Dr. Elbers, secretary of the Berlin Academy, Captain Pullen who is going to survey 
the west coast, and after lunch a number of ladies and gentlemen who called. Dr. 
Atherstone told a capital story of Sir John Hershell who had been unable to get any 
potatoes out of his garden, on account of the Depredations of the Blue Mole, which 
is a large animal like a rabbit. So Sir John determined to try, and eat the moles. 
It happened that day, that they had had a present of a leveret, and Lady Hershell 
ordered that to be served at a separate table for herself. So Sir John and W 
Maclean sat down and cut daintily, and presently the saliva began to appear at the 
corners of Maclean's mouth, and Sir John pressing his abdomen said I feel uncomfort- 
able MacLean ; we had better have the mole taken away at which Lady Hershell 
derided them. So they rang the bell, and asked the coloured servant to take away 
the mole, when he went to Lady Hershells table and lifted the dish. Not that, 
you rascal, said Sir John ; I said take away the mole! But this is the mole, said the 
boy. — I have heard Sedgwick tell the same story, so I have no doubt it is genuine. 



io HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

The observatory is magnificent and they are building a special house for photo- 
graphy. We saw all the apparatus. 

The Dutch boors have a great sense of humour, and over dinner tonight W de Smit 
told some funny stories. Thus a farmer was drowned, and on it being told to his 
son, the son says " O dear, and he had my new pen knife in his pocket ". The 
Dr. relates that a Hottentot was going to be hanged at Grahamstown while he was 
surgeon to the convicts, and on being asked his last wishes desired a new pair of 
white trousers because a good many women who knew him would come. Further 
asked if he had no other wish he said a pipe of tobacco ; this the jailor handed him 
while the priest was praying, when the man handed it back saying jailor you have 
forgotten to light it. Presently the pipe had to be thrown down. But it happened 
that the rope broke, when the man picking himself up said, what a nuisance it is, 
it has put the pipe out! I hear that up country coffins are a comodity in great 
demand, and Atherstone mentioned that one man had made many coffins and 
bitterly complained that all his friends had borrowed them. Now, he added I have 
made a teak coffin, and you don't catch me lending that to anyone! Delirium 
Tremens seems to be a common ailment among the Dutch and others, and de Smit 
told how people systematically give directions for their recovery, and then drink 
till they become insane. On one occasion he found the Commissioner, Assistant 
Commissioner, and Doctor of an up country district all in this state ; and on another 
occasion the Dutch farmers wife become pious with drink was praying half the 
night that the almighty would not be very hard on her, for she had not occasion 
to come to him often, and it was not often that she kicked over the traces, and as 
only a thin partition separated the rooms Smit could not get to sleep. Dr. Ather- 
stone mentioned that in his earlier practise a girl had fallen down a well in process of 
construction and dashed her brains out and that he recovered her happening to be pass- 
ing as a plumber brought her to the surface, and said that the bones were entirely de- 
stroyed, but that eventually new bone grew, and that she is now married in England, 
and is a well known musical composer. Laurance Oliphant was a native of the Cape. 

The time passes rapidly. I mentioned in the last letter my discovery of a mammal 
but whether it is from the Karroo or from some newer deposit is uncertain. I 
have found the distal end of the femur and proximal end of tibia of a mammal 
mineralized almost as perfectly as the Karroo specimens which are certainly the 
remains of a huge proboscidian far larger than the African elephant but closely 
allied to it. I can have no doubt that these are tertiary fossils, and they make 
known for the first time the existence in South Africa of rocks which are probably 
identical with the Siwalik beds of India and which may yield as important a fauna. 
But where are the rocks? It may seem incredible, but it is a fact, that there is no 
history to the specimens ; no one knows anything about them, and the miocene 
tertiary of the Cape have yet to be discovered. 

Another discovery of some interest is a new Saurian from the Fraserburg district, 
collected by Mr. Bain. Of course I have nothing but a badly preserved skull. 
But such a skull that I do not know how to group it in any of the many divisions 
which I have made. It is about a foot long and has a mammalian aspect but is a 
true reptile (Text Fig. 2). 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES n 

It is a new genus. The last day or two I have been chiseling at another vile Fraser- 
burg specimen which proves to be a large labyrinthodont, with the rami of the 
lower jaw expanded transversely so as to cover all the palate except the median 
parasphenoid bone. There are no teeth visible at the sides of the jaws and therefore 
I infer that I have an animal with crushing teeth like Placodus. Unfortunately 
the upper surface of the skull is so badly preserved that it does not show one of the 
natural apertures, and is only clear about the articulation of the quadrate with the 
lower jaw. There are hundreds of specimens but it is difficult to make much of 
them though I should have been keener about them if I had not had such fine 
material at home. 




Fig. 2 



Last Wednesday I dined with Mr Sidney Cowper at Wynberg and took a two horse 
covered cart to drive from the station to his house. The nigger drove me about 
a la Tony Lumpkin, till I got down and inquired the way at a shop. The ladies 
were stripped as much as black silks would permit although it was the depth of 
winter, and to their senses cold. On Thursday I called at the Government house. 
An A. D. C. returned my visit at once, and on Friday I went to the reception by 
General and Mrs Smyth ; as she spoke of their friends Flower and Warrington Smyth . 
I have no doubt the Deputy-Governor is Sir Warrington's brother. I am invited 
to Dine with them on Friday. Events succeed so rapidly that I cannot remember 
half the things that happen. I have been to taste Mr. Stockdale's wines. He 
possesses 250 square miles of land in the wine district and is a brother in law of 
Atherstones. Sir Charles Mills sent me an introduction to the Premier to Lisbon 
for the Mexican which however arrived too late, and was brought on by the last 
Mail. Saturday is a half holiday, and I utilized it by going to sleep. This Sunday 



12 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

I went to the Cathedral in the morning and found myself sitting next to Mr. de 
Jongh who came out in the same boat. I then went to Rondebosch. Had a few 
words with the Premier on the Platform, and at that station Bain met Atherstone 
and myself and drove us to his home where we dined. We were driven thence to 
Rosebank, made calls, and came on by rail to Observatory Road to spend some 
time with Gill. I unfolded to him my scheme for a Geosophic survey of South 
Africa and I am going to see him again on the matter on my return to Capetown. 
He estimates that it would cost £4,000 a year as I have sketched it. In view of 
this I am proposing to see the Diamond Mines of Kimberley, the gold mines of 
Knysna, and some coal mines in addition to the Dragon Rocks, since the Prime 
Minister cares about nothing but practical aspects of science. I should like you to 
send a copy of Factors in Life with a list of my papers enclosed, to Dr Gill, F.R.S., 
Astronomer Royal Observatory Road Cape Town. I gave one of the Factors to 
Dr Atherstone the other to Sir Gordon Sprigg, K.C.M.G., who was once a shorthand 
reporter in the British House of Commons. I find that Trollope travelled with Dr 
Atherstone and Atherstone tells me that Trollope used to write his notes day by day 
and send them to his wife who lived in Switzerland and that she put them together 
and wrote the volumes of his travels in the form in which they appeared immediately 
on his return. 

Stockdale I find once possessed the diamond mines of the Cape when the country 
belonged to the Orange Free State immediately after the working began. The farm 
belonged to two brothers, Dutchmen who abandoned their holding when the diggers 
came. Stockdale found one and bought his share for £1,000. He then went in 
search of the other and found him six days up the Orange River with all his sheep 
lambing, and his wife within a day of her confinement. He was a difficult man to 
deal with being a dopper, whose yea is yea, and nay nay. So Stockdale helped him 
with his sheep and he asked eventually £6000 for his share of the farm. Stockdale 
took half an hour to think of it, and eventually agreed to pay him £5600 in a month. 
His representatives afterwards sold the property to the British Government for 
£100,000 ; and now £600,000,000 would not buy it, so he feels rather sore that the 
British Government stole the land from the Free State. He showed me a series 
of beautiful drawings of the edible fishes of the Cape made by the Drawing master 
who teaches his children. He tells me there is very little money in the country as 
money is understood in England, — very few people with as much as £10,000 a year ; 
but also there are few very poor. I hear from Mr Wilmot the Editor of the Excalabur, 
that the Dutch are the Aristocracy, and hold most of the land. And so far as I 
can judge there is reason to think the discontent with the home government is 
rather with the English than with the Dutch, who are ultra conservative. 

De Smit who is charged with stories, as dry as the Karroo, told me of a Hottentot 
who complained that his chief had used him very badly, and went to the Missionary. 
It seemed that the poor fellow had been kicked out of his house, and his girl had 
been taken away from him. The missionary promised that the chief should have 
punishment in a future state. Oh no said the Hottentot that won't do at all for 
perhaps he will be converted, and then he would escape punishment altogether ; 
so punish him now. 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 13 

I went yesterday to Sea-point by tram. It is wonderful to see the profusion of 
winter flowers while the hedges are made of the dark green grey Aloe, with its many 
vermiUion heads of blossom, growing right down to the sea with the mountains 
rising close behind. Every day I find some little new thing. Yesterday it was 
the teeth of a mammal or mammal-like reptile, with crushing teeth with many cusps, 
exactly of the mammal type. But the skull had evidently crumbled. I also found 
in the museum a tooth which in England we should have called Elephas primigenius 
but which may be E. Indicus from some superficial deposit. A new fact in any 
case. I have also comparatively slender limb bones of Dicynodonts like crocodiles 
only the radius is large and the ulna small as in mammals. Last Friday I went to 
the Lower House and sat in the Distinguished strangers gallery to hear a debate 
on the County Councils bill. I believe I am to give a lecture next Thursday on the 
Dragons of the Great Karroo and Drakensberg to the Young Mens Christian Asso- 
ciation with His Excellency the Acting Governor in the Chair. Tomorrow I am 
going to lunch at the Observatory, and then go to a meeting of the Philosophical 
Society in the Evening (Wednesday). Today has been wet and windy. The winds 
which come from Table mountain are terrific. South Easters bring sand down 
in columns. The marvel is that the trees do not snap. Anything less like winter 
you could not imagine, so I fear that summer must be hot. I do not know that 
it would be possible to settle here, but you will have to think about it, if the Govern- 
ment should eventually ask my co-operation. I have conceived of a central Museum 
with a survey always going on of which it is the index, and a correspondence depart- 
ment for distributing scientific advice to the colonists. It would keep the Director 
very much in the open country, and away from home, making his maps and writing 
his reports ; but it would be doing the best thing which has ever been imagined for 
the development of Cape Colony. You spoke of sending me papers by book or 
parcel post. They have not arrived. I should like a few copies of my list of papers. 

Everyone here has an open eye and talon for the main chance, de Smit says the 
Grace before meat is almost interminable in a Dutch boor home and the moment 
it is over everyone drives his fork into the dish for the bit of meat on which he has 
fixed his eye. It is a type of everything. Everyone for himself and no one for the 
Colony. 

Next Wednsday I shall be up country at Fraserburg, and my letters will now 
become more irregular. 

Thy loving husband 

H. G. Seeley 

Cape Town 
My darling Wife, 

I was glad to get your letter with Enclosures from the children. Just after closing 
my last letter the Geol. Mag. and Castle book came having taken a week to get 
delivered owing to the curious law that printed matter cannot be intercepted here 
but must first go to its destination. I went out to the Observatory last Wednesday 
and discussed with Dr Gill the financial aspect of my Geosophical Survey. He has 
£800 and a house. He says I should have to pay £120 a year house rent, and he 

HIST. 3, I. I§§ 



i 4 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

thought that as the heads of departments here receive £800 to £1000 a year, that I 
should probably have £900 a year. He went into all matters : the ages of the 
children, your feelings in the matter, &c. In the evening I went to Rosebank 
station to see Mr. Allis a photographer who was intimate and related to William 
Saunders of Bristol, and got some idea of the interior of the country. He is going 
to make me a few slides for the lantern, but his charges are very high. I came in 
got a hurried meal and went to the Philosophical Society. There was an interesting 
paper on sand-dunes upon which I made a small oration. Thursday I went to the 
General's reception and he asked me to drive down to the Y.M.C.A. with him, and 
dine with him first. So I dined and Mrs Smyth and the A.D.C.'s went to my lecture 
on the Dragons of the Drakensberg. I had a distinguished audience, but they have 
omitted the lecture from the newspaper's report, and have only given something 
from its head and tail. I returned to Government house after the lecture, and 
found Captain Baden-Powell drilling his choir of magpie minstrels in the great 
drawing room. Excellency was exceedingly kind ; and I find that Mrs Smyth is 
sister to the wife of my old College tutor at Sidney Sussex J. W. C. Ellis. I forgot 
to mention that Dr Gill in seconding the vote of thanks hoped that the Colony might 
soon have the advantage of a Geological Survey, and that when I next came to the 
Cape, I should be tempted to remain. So you see, matters are advancing. This 
morning an old Sidney Sussex man Revd Wm Tobias a converted Jew who I knew 
at Cambridge came to see me. He is rector of Beaconsfield which adjoins Kimberley. 
I have arranged my trip with Mr Bain. But I do not know whether Dr Atherstone 
will come. He wants the Government to pay him two guineas a day and his 
expenses for accompanying me, and as the Government is doing so much for me I 
do not like to press it, and yet the old man's evidence is very valuable. As the 
Colonial Secretary was in the House I saw the Under Secretary Mr Willis, and 
delivered to him my itinerary. He will write to all the Commissioners to prepare 
to receive me and Mr Bain and Mr Sidney Cowper will telegraph to them at all the 
places to which I go to get ready to give me help. Mr Bain tells me, he proposes 
to draw an advance and get his work passed on his return as the simplest way of 
providing cart hire &c. I think there is nothing more in the Museum that will 
repay work, at present. I dine tonight at Government House with His Excellency 
the Administrator, and tomorrow I lunch with the Prime Minister at Rondebosch, 
where he lives. Dr Atherstone has been seriously unwell with a chill. The dinner 
tonight was a grand full dress dinner brilliant with military and naval dress uniforms 
which I had never seen. The French consul, a German naval Captain, Mr. Fair- 
bridge a trustee of the South African Museum, with his wife and daughter who of 
course claimed acquintance as an old pupil of mine at Miss Haswell's, and of course 
remembered that she had only 60 marks in the examination while two other girls 
had 95. This is the rotundity of the world. An Engineer officer building forti- 
fications, du Bouillac, gave me an account of a living animal of the form of the 
plesiosaurus which chased seals, which he saw in Simons Town Bay and approached 
within 15 feet, when it dived under the boat. The Fairbridge people have asked 
me to dine with them on Sunday, but the old gentleman has so much energy that 
unless I can get Dr Atherstone to go with me, I am afraid he will be rather ex- 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 15 

hausting. I have gone over most of the materials in the Museum and am amazed at the 
poverty of the Geological and mineralogical collections. Parliament has just granted 
£4,000 to build a new wing ; and Dr Gill suggests that it should be built in accordance 
with my scheme so as to arrange eventually for a quadrangle with the Library one 
side, an industrial museum parallel to it, the recent collections on one side, and the 
fossil and mineral collections on the other. 

At Sir Gordon Sprigg's I met Lady Sprigg and her two daughters, Mr Hofmeyr 
who controls the ministry and is the head of the Africander party, Mr. Blake, Mr 
Fairburn, Mr and Mrs Norton and Mr Pearson. The conversation was on Leprosy, 
Winds and sand dunes, the Museum, and such like topics. After lunch I went with 
Gill to the Observatory to smoke. He told me that Sprigg has no means and 
depends upon his official salary. Sir Thomas Oppington is always hopelessly in 
debt, and is without political principle. He is Attorney General. Mr Tudhope 
the Colonial Secretary, has been in business, has been newspaper editor and bankrupt 
again and again. Col. Schembrucker has not a farthing, and sticks to office at any 
price. This is the ragged regiment of a Colonial Ministry. The Government was 
constructing a railway to British Bechuanaland, and were compelled to the influence 
of Paul Kruger the President of the Transvaal, exerted by Mr Hofmeyr to give it 
up and make a railway to Bloemfontein instead, because the other railway would 
have brought British troops to the borders of the Transvaal and the Government 
has so little independence that instead of going out, they gave up their railway 
and stuck to office. So far as I can judge Hofmeyr is a man of little education, though 
he is astute. The best thing I have heard of him is his proposal to include all the 
South African Governments in a Customs Union. This is sound policy, and the 
single gleam of Statesmanship, among the cloud of time serving and self seeking 
schemes. Here it is every man for himself, and no one for the country. I think 
the soundest practical policy will be to endeavour to educate Hofmeyr who alone 
has a strong following, and who will not take office. I heard on Saturday that the 
Government propose to allow £55 for cart hire for me to get about, £15 for conveyance 
of specimens to railway stations, £15 for Mr Bain's personal expenses, while they 
give me Mr Bain's services for 40 days. While all specimens are to be sent free by 
rail O.H.M.S. Is this not generous? I find Dr. Gill will pave the way with the 
Prime Minister for a statement from me, on my return as to the importance of 
developing the Geological and Industrial resources of the Colony, and we are quite 
agreed that nothing but a Geological Survey can prevent the tail from wagging the 
dog, — in other words can prevent the Transvaal from absorbing Cape Colony sooner 
or later. On my return Dr Gill proposes to arrange a meeting at the Philosophical 
Society and get the ministers to be present so that I may say all that I have to say 
on the basis of personal experience in the Colony. Mr Wilmot, the Editor of 
Excalabur, wants to publish my lecture in full as a supplement to his paper but of 
course I have no notes. This morning Mrs Smyth sent me a note from Government 
House asking me to lunch or dine with them today, as it is my last Sunday. To- 
morrow night I start up country. The first stoppage will be at Prince Albert Road 
to which I return after traversing and crossing the Zwarte Berg range. We then 
go on to Fraserberg Road station, and spend three days fossil hunting, then to 



16 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

Beaufort West all in grand mountain scenery with superb passes, through which 
Bain has constructed the roads. We then go by cart over the country to Aber- 
deen and Graaf Reinet, and so on to Cradock. I believe we then come down to 
Grahams Town where I may lecture. I shall then get up by Queenstown to Aliwal 
North and Burghersdorp, and then up to Kimberley. Then back by Rail to Cape 
Town. I think I have quite got over the excitement of the newness of the country, 
and feel in sound health. The lower temperature of the last few days has contri- 
buted to this, not less than the sense that there is nothing more to be done in Cape 
Town at present. There has been heavy hail here, and I hear that the mountains 
yesterday were white with snow. 

I sincerely hope you are all well and happy. You will see from my letters how 
I have been thinking of you in a practical way, and I trust it may be that we shall 
someday come together to the Cape, though it is much which we should leave 
behind, if I should be offered the appointment which I am trying to create. What 
you say is very true about Miss Schmitz and Kings and my work at home, but I 
could do no more than I did. And here all my efforts have been concentrated on 
diplomacy to secure the future provision for you and the children which I do not 
see at home. I will do what I can for Rix. 

Thy loving husband 
H. G. Seeley. 

oudtshoorn 
Cape Colony 

My darling Wife, ?th AugUSt 

On Sunday last I dined at Government House Cape Town at 8 o'clock. There 
was no one but His Excellency, Mrs Smyth, the 3 A.D.C.'s and myself. They are 
charming people and nothing could exceed the friendliness of their manner and 
expressions. I had great difficulty to get ready for the start on Monday. But at 
last at 8 o'clock at night I found myself at the Railway Station. Before starting 
I got letters from the Superintendent of Railways that a special compartment 
was reserved for me and Mr Bain ; and from the Government enabling me to frank 
all fossils as on the Government Service (O.H.M.S.). Mr Bain's son and his wife 
came to see us off. And as the train started it was greeted with cheer after cheer 
as it left the station on its way to Kimberley. We passed over the Hex River 
Mountains which were covered with snow and through striking mountain country, 
and talked till nearly 1 o'clock, when we got a cup of coffee at a way side station 
and went to sleep, in our clothes and wraps. We got a good breakfast in the 
morning at 7 o'clock, and at about 1.30 arrived at Prince Albert Road 2500 feet 
above the sea, and 200 miles from Cape Town. Here I posted my proof to Rix 
for the last Mail. And then leaving most of our luggage we started in a two horse 
covered Cape cart for the 30 miles drive to Prince Albert. We were on the Karroo 
Plain and before stretched the great range of the Zwarte Berg towering up in endless 
peaks with its surface scored by endless gulleys and valleys. It was a wonderful 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 17 

drive for me. For the surface was covered with stones as it had been from the 
Beginning. We stopped to examine limestones and other rocks by the way and to 
note the little pyramidal hills called Koppe's. The Karroo bush and a few thorny 
mimosa's were the common vegetation. At the halfway House we outspanned 
and had some excellent Java Coffee. The old Dutchman showed me little bits of 
green copper ore which he had found. He had seven children, had lived there 5 
years and his eldest daughter who had a complexion like very dirty linen told me 
they had had no rain since September last, and that they could grow no crops. 
Nevertheless the goats looked grand, and Bain told me that after rain the vegetation 
grows almost beyond belief, and the animals fatten in a week or two. We inspanned 
and went on to Prince Albert which lies at the foot of the Zwarteberg to which we 
descended, getting in by moonlight in a cloudless sky, not inconveniently cold. 
After Dinner the Commissioner waited upon me and said he had received a telegram 
from the Premier and Letter from the Colonial Minister to aid me in any way possible, 
so he told me of search for coal and of the fruit industry of the place, and other 
matters. At seven o'clock this morning we started with 4 new horses to cross the 
Zwarteberg by the new road which Mr Bain had made over the pass, which was 
opened 15 months ago. It is a wonderful work like the Gemmi only much better, 
made by convict labour. He says the convicts become so skillful that whereas 
they were only worth 3 pence a day when convicted they readily earn 5 shillings a 
day when discharged, and the only recommendation the farmers require is evidence 
that he has been a convict. We saw a wonderful rock called Trap-conglomerate 
on leaving Prince Albert, full of rounded bounders. And on entering the pass the 
rocks on one side were golden with lichen. They dip to the south, and soon become 
folded and contorted almost beyond belief. Up we went and outspanned at the 
only house, near the summit or neck of the pass, between 5,000 and 6,000 feet above 
the sea. Here we got some coffee and Bain produced corned beef and bread, butter 
and other accessaries from his bag. There was a little snow at the top and all the 
way up, the ruins of successive convict stations, which are unroofed as they are 
abandoned because the roofing is corrugated iron. We inspanned again and went 
on with two horses which overtook us as we descended a little into the Oudtshoorn 
valley, which is the richest part of the Colony, well cultivated and full of fruit. 
Many teams passed us. One of 22 oxen was going to take a waggon load of oranges 
into the Transvaal. Here and there was a dead ox, killed by the cold. 

We looked away to the North over the Karroo and saw seven parallel ranges of 
mountains stretching below us, limited by the Neuwfelt range 90 away to the North 
standing out clear as possible on the horizon. On the south side stretch the Cango 
Hills, which are for the most part rounded limestone beyond which are the Otoniqua 
range. The happy valley was everywhere well cultivated. We descended lower 
and lower and passed the celebrated Cango caves but had no time to visit them. 
The stalactites are formed of white Baryte. We outspanned at the Kango arms 
where they charged a shilling a cup for coffee. And then passing many tobacco 
sheds where the leaves were drying we entered a narrow valley called Schoemans 
Poort and examined the wonderful metamorphic rocks, limestones formed of lime- 
stone pebbles but full of black and white mica, slates showing cleavage, sandstones 



18 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

full of rounded boulders of all kinds of old rocks, and quartzites — the latter traversed 
by quartz veins, which we afterwards heard that gold had been found. We saw 
orange groves in full bearing with 4000, to 8000 oranges on each tree, mandarin 
oranges called Natje, and citron from which the people make an excellent preserve. 
The best brandy is made in this country, for there is no railway, so the people will 
not make wine. And the demand for sigars is far beyond the quantity they make. 
The tobacco sells retail at 4 pence a pound. Cigars at 10 shillings a hundred, 
though at local hotels they are 3 pence each. We afterwards passed forests of 
Prickly pear which is over-running and ruining large tracts of country Mr. Bain 
showed me the Kaffir antidotes for snake bite, and other plants which are used as 
remedies for kidney and other disease. At length after a 45 miles drive we reached 
Oudtshoorn by moon-light. It is a fine township with the best hotel I have yet 
seen. Here was Mr Bain's daughter and her husband Mr Bromley who was at 
Rondebusch when I dined with Mr Bain. We talked with intelligent Transvaal 
and Australian diggers, dined well, tasted the delicious cape gooseberry jam which 
is eaten with custard, and the dried pears which are first peeled and salted. All 
kinds of fruit are dried but the supplies of the year were all sold. 

As on board ship they bring a cup of coffee to your bed room in the morning. 
We got up at 6 started at 7 with two stallions. We outspanned at Hassenjacht 
where we breakfasted in the open air. There was to be a sale of sheep and goats 
and many Boers had arrived. They boiled some water and Mr Bain made coffee and 
produced breakfast of corned beef, bread, and oranges. We had left the butter 
on the top of the Zwarteberg pass. We were now on our way to recross the Zwarte- 
berg by Meirings poort, through which the Oliphant river flows. We next out- 
spanned at the entrance to the Poort at Rankin's and got coffee and eggs, tele- 
graphed for letters and bought a pipe made of the Protea a red wood which looks 
like a fine plait. Here the slaty rocks have an uncomformable bed on top. The 
poort runs N. and S. and consists of rocks folded over each other very cut through 
by the recession of a waterfall. In the middle of the pass we diverged to examine 
a waterfall, which comes down into a rock basin, and is now excavating a gorge 
for itself. The pass is 10 miles long and say 2,000 feet deep where deepest At 
night we reached Klaarstroom = clear stream, after a ride of 36 miles. It is one 
house with a shop at the north end of the Poort. Looking back from it you saw the 
gap in the southern mass of the Zwarteberg separated from you by a low range 
of hills which seem once to have dammed up a lake. We had goat for dinner and 
citron jam or rather preserve. The house went to bed at 9-30. We got up at six, 
when a girl brought us coffee in bed, started at seven and outspanned in Blumendal 
by the graveyard which adjoins the road has no tombstones and only marks the 
spot with a layer of rounded stones gathered from adjacent land. We gathered 
sticks and Mr Bain made a fire, boiled a kettle, and soon made coffee. We got 
some capital bread at Waarstrom and sat down to breakfast. All day today 
(Friday) we have been travelling along the strike of the Zwarteberg, so that very 
little geology was to be seen. We stopped at a farm and bought 50 oranges to take 
into the Karroo, but here far from anyone they charged 4 shillings a hundred. 
The daughters climbed the trees and got them down and I found the fresh ripe 






HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 19 

mandarin orange excellent. Mr Bain showed me some medicinal plants. Gawza- 
bosch or Duck-plant is in great repute as a cure for cancer, and as a family remedy 
for most things. The leaves and flowers are infused as a Tea. It looks like a sort 
of vetch but grows as a shrub, it has a flavour as I found like rhubarb only much 
more pungent. A favourite cure for snake bite awarded £500 by the Indian Govern- 
ment to a man who learned it from a Kaffir is Wilde-Dagga called wild-hemp. It 
is Leonotus leoneurus. The covering of the roots, or leaves are infused and a cup 
taken every half hour. Kruid-je-roer-myn-niet is another potent cure for snake 
bite : its name means ' touch me not or I strike '. We outspanned at du Pleisses' 
farm where we got some coffee, and came finally to the entrance to the Zwarteberg 
pass where the rocks are much disturbed. 

We are now back at Prince Albert. Mr Haak the Landlord who has been the 
round with us has got us some dried fruits and tomorrow we start for the Karroo 
and its bones. The silk bark is a curious tree which seems to have fibre like silk 
in its bark and leaves. 

Thy loving husband 
H. G. Seeley. 

Tamboer, 
28 miles N. of Frazerberg Road Station, 

nth August. 
My darling Wife, 

. . . Here I am in the desert. It is marvellous. A land with rivers in which 
there is no water, a country without grass or trees, with the surface covered with 
stones and stunted bushes, generally level but with parallel ranges or low hills, 
with the naked rock often bare on the surface. Here there has been no rain for six 
months. The farmers often build dams to collect the water, but years pass without 
water falling to fill them. 

Saturday morning we left Prince Albert at 7 o'clock as usual. I noticed the 
high incline and folding of the rocks as we jolted over the many little ranges of 
hills formed by the strata dipping to the north. After 15 miles we outspanned at 
Bote Kraal where the daughters cooked us sausages and breast of pork with eggs, 
excellent coffee followed by marmalade and good bread with Karroo butter which 
is fat from the great tails of the Cape sheep. These animals are full grown in a year ; 
and in the dry season when there is no feed they live on their own tails in a way 
comparable to hybernating animals. We inspanned and then began an exciting 
race to catch our train for Eclipse and Polly the poor starved horses were worn 
out with work, and they stopped at every little ascent, and then on the level and 
had to be led, and rested dozens of times. We were carrying the Mails, and I 
never saw such a flogging to get them in time. However it was done and in the 
28 miles, I am sure the animals did their last effort, for we had to rest them every 
60 or 70 yards. At the station I met Mr Norton and Mr Douglas members of 
Parliament going home to Grahams Town, and at Fraserberg Road I got your 
letter. Here I found myself quite thirsty with the excitement over Polly and 



20 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AMD THE KARROO REPTILES 

Eclipse. Mr Marais who only speaks dutch was here with two carts and capital 
horses to bring us to Tamboer which is a 28 miles drive, so that we had nearly 
60 miles cart ride. We arrived about 9.30 at night, travelling under the full moon 
and drawing near to the Nieuwfelt Mountains. This house stands quite alone 
in the Karroo, and yet it is a post office and a general dealer's shop and the home 
of a large farmer. We had supper and then went to see two fossils which had 
been got for us. One is a fine skull of a large new Labyrinthodont, shaped exactly 
like the head of a crocodile only the back of the head is much higher ; it is about 
two feet long. The other specimen is a beautifully preserved skull of Pareiasaurus 
without the upper part. This Sunday morning we went on to the roof of the house 
and saw nearly the whole vertebral column of the same animal but without the 
limbs. We rested this morning and drove out to Cypher where a Hottentot had 
been sent early to find some bones which were known to be there. We came upon 
a reptilian graveyard with the bones in the rock, and got out some beautiful limb 
bones with some few vertebrae. The remains being scattered in the rock though 
apparently all in a yard or two. But still there were no small bones of the extremities 
except an ulna. We chipped out another skull but could make nothing of it, and 
it was much broken in extraction by the Hottentot. But it is a new beast. We 
made a substantial breakfast of sausage and grilled breast of pork and eggs. Mr 
Marais brought a large water bottle and later in the day made us coffee in the velt. 
I marked the more important bones with vermillion, so that the pieces may be 
eventually fitted together and we loaded up. We came back to afternoon dinner 
of the tenderest Karroo mutton eaten with cabbage and a salad made of beetroot 
and sliced onions cut very thin. We drink water, which has the colour of water 
in a milky jug. And concluded with coffee, ending as we began with a long grace 
in Dutch. In the evening before sunset I went out to the velt to see a few bones 
which one of the herds had put together in a heap but though they were interesting 
to see I did not think them perfect enough to bring away. This country was formerly 
densely peopled with Bushmen with whom there were many bloody battles till 
holding the impregnable height of Tafelberg in the Nieuwfelt range the Boers crept 
up on a dark night as they afterwards did at Majuba Hill and shot down every 
man woman and child as they came out of their Kraals. For a long time before 
a Boer always shot a Bushman if he saw one, and a Bushman always shot a shepherd 
and drove off his sheep to the mountains. But it happened that a shepherd dozed 
in the afternoon, and the bushman crept up with bushes so that he was not seen, 
till the baboons were trained to defend them. They are tamed and were taken to 
the farm and as they never sleep in the day saw the Bushmen a mile off ; and 
shepherds with baboons escaped while the others were killed. I tasted the Cambru 
formerly the food of the bushmen. It is very like a sweet tender turnip in flavour, 
has the form of a parsnip and varies with the form of the stones in the ground in 
which they grow. They may be six or seven inches in diameter and a foot and a 
half long. All over the country are Bushman digging stones, fragments of Bushman 
pottery, and in every rock shelter and cave, Bushman drawings of men and animals. 
The names of people are largely french, but they have forgotten their origin and 
speak Dutch, or rather Cape Dutch. All Boer hate coloured people. A missionary 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 2r 

at Frazerberg asked the minister of the Church if he might have an evening service 
for his Hottentots on an evening when the Church was not used. The matter was 
referred to the Vestry by the minister. But they were in a mighty rage that their 
own minister should propose the defilement of sitting in a seat which had been 
occupied by a Hottentot. The minister said to the loudest of the opponents I 
suppose you will allow that a Hottentot has a Soul, at which there was a grunt of 
doubtful assent. And suppose the Hottentot saves his soul and dies and becomes 
an angel in Heaven, and that you afterwards die, and are told to sit down beside 
that Hottentot, what would you do? To which he replied "I'd be damned, if I 
wouldn't fly out of Heaven ". The Bushmen recognise their inferiority and say 
God first made the Baboons then themselves and lastly the white men. They call 
the Baboons the old people, and say they can talk as well as themselves, but are 
much too clever for they know well enough that if they did the Boers would set 
them to work and that they would have to wheel barrows for the rest of their lives. 
I saw some Baboons in Meirings Poort, but no great Troops. You would be amazed 
to see the fields of melons wild and bitter and useless, but I am told that in Namaqua- 
land wild water-marrow furnishes the only drinking fluid, and that even Lions seek 
it for drink. 

Here the Tea is mountain tea prepared from the leaves of a leguminous plant 
which grows in the country, especially in the Zwarteberg. Our last view in that 
range before returning to Prince Albert on the 20 August showed a double un- 
conformity. The flat topped hills are I believe all of Basalt. 

This morning we were up before the sun as usual had our coffee and then breakfast, 
before eight so that we started soon after in a SW direction for Bad. Here we took 
a Hottentot who was dressing a goat just killed. The animal weighed about 7olbs. 
He looked like a demon with his burnt sienna skin and broad flat nose, though he 
shook all over with a kind of palsy. Finding he was of no use we took his son, 
who had a bad impediment in his speech and he was as stupid as his father for he 
wasted our morning walking round the stony hills seeking for a fossil which we did 
not find. Mr Bain gave the duffer a shilling and we went on to Finders Fontein 
to see the reputed quicksilver spring. There seems to be no doubt that a little 
liquid metal was formerly found. But all that we saw was the most fearful sul- 
phuretted hydrogen spring which I have heard of. The flavour of the water was 
indescribable, and I do not know when I shall get the stink out of my nostrils. 
I noticed that the spring in running away deposits a black powder. Mr. Bain got 
the Hottentot farmer who lives there to fill a bottle with this for analysis, and took 
samples of the rocks which I expect will yield antimony, bismuth, or silver. Mr 
Marais made us coffee and we resumed our journey back to the Bath. The farmer 
drives up inclines in the rock of 1 in z\, without roads, up steps in the rock six 
inches deep over stones looking as though heaped before making a pavement. The 
ground is usually reddish brown, or grey brown : — sometimes greenish so that it 
looks at a distance as though covered with winter grass. Where this fine shale is 
found it is often rippled by the wind. Here and there is a bright scarlet aloe spike 
of blossom, or a bush in yellow flower, or a green mimosa with its myriads of dagger 
thorns, but for the most part stunted bushes eaten down by the sheep. We met 



22 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

one farmer trecking, trying to save his flock by going to a district SW where there 
has lately been some rain. The want of rain I believe to be due to the wholesale 
cutting down of trees. Everywhere you see trees peeled of the bark. The farmer 
allows the bark cutter to take a load of bark which destroys about 70 fine trees, 
for a sheep, which is worth about 7/6d (seven shillings and sixpence). When 
remonstrated with he says there will be wood to last his time. No one plants, 
because the tree might not be of use in his time. Yet when the lambing time comes 
and he has 5000 lambs say, he will cut the throats of 2000 or 3000 to save the ewes ; 
and I believe he might save all these if he would preserve and augment his timber. 
Arrived at Blu Kop, Mr Marais brother's farm. We had mountain tea, took 
him up and started for another saurian it proved a good one head body tail and 
limbs all resting right way up as the animal died. The small bones of the extremities 
were not there. It appears to be a smooth skulled Pareiasaurus about n feet long. 
We had no suitable tools to get it out and no means of carrying it away. We left 
the cart far behind and the horses with us, with pick, spade, hammer and a little 
chisel. It is unfortunately in a crumbling blue shale and the bones are already 
broken into many pieces with effects of hundreds of years sunshine and frost. Still 
I determined to try to get it away. We chiselled and pecked and got the head out 
in many pieces. Everything will be similarly broken but at sunset we stopped 
and arranged to return with bags to put the bones of the several parts in and a 
waggon with packing cases, so that it will not be all lost. The ulna has the mam- 
malian form. The radius is relatively stout as in a reptile, the femur is moderately 
long, and a finger bone shows, that the foot was short. We previously knew nothing 
of the limbs, and in many respects it adds to our knowledge. I am going to Fraser- 
berg to reach Klip Fontein in search for mammals. It is wonderful to see these 
beasts in their native rock lying almost free on the surface. Such an animal ought 
to require 4 days to extract but I cannot afford the time. 

Thy loving husband 

H. G. Seeley. 

Royal Hotel 

Beaufort West 

Sunday 18 Aug. 1889 
My darling Wife, 

I was glad to get your letter of the 25th July tonight. It had been locked up 
with one from Fotheringham because there was a penny to pay for redirection 
but Mr de Smit sent for the Postmaster and made him disgorge. 

On Tuesday 13th August we started again at 6 o'clock in the morning to cross 
the Neuwfelt Mountains, Mr. J. S. Marais driving us as far as Bex Platz. Marais 
is a well-to-do farmer, a boer ; and neither he nor his family speak a word of English. 
Mrs Marais does the household work, and this seems the rule with the boers. Their 
houses are of one story, and built as a rule to enclose an angle which gets the morning 
sun and the afternoon shade. The front is always raised and often has a verandah 
with vines or passion flowers. Mr Marais' house opens by a front door, which 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 23 

leads at once to sitting room in which hang the guns, the marriage register with 
names of all children born, a few texts in Dutch in large print, and a looking glass. 
The chairs are heavy and stuffed with horse hair. On the right is Mr Marais bed- 
room ; I occupied the room on the left. Opposite the front door is another door 
communicating with the spiese-saal in which the family take their meals ; to the 
right of it is the kitchen and the larder is beyond Marais bed-room. There is always 
spring bock or steen-bock or beef hanging in the sun to dry, when it is called biltong ; 
and is cut in thin slices and eaten raw when travelling ; and I must say it is good. 
On the other side of the house are the bedrooms, with doors opening outward ; 
and beyond the bed-rooms the general dealer's shop and at the end of all the post 
office. Behind this are the stables. I have taken kindly to the boer and find him 
everywhere exceedingly kind and hospitable and anxious to be of service. We 
reached Bex-Platz [Beckseplass] about 8 o'clock and had breakfast. The farm there 
is a partnership between a young Dutch boer and a middle aged Russian Jew, known as 
Mr Benjamin, whose real name is No vies. They told me that he fled from Memel in 
disguise and wandered in Russia for 6 years under an assumed name till he got a 
passport, and came to England. He is now naturalized, has married a Dutch wife 
and eats pork like a Christian. We breakfasted on grilled slices of mutton and 
coffee ; which is almost always excellent, and is the drink of the country which every 
boer offers you. Mr Benjamin loaded up, and we started again for Frazerberg ; 
which we reached soon after 7 o'clock at night. We were soon in the mountains 
and I was never more amazed to find the rocks perfectly horizontal, undisturbed 
by any upheaval. [Insert from margin of page " Fotheringham says there is not a 
single honest reef in the Transvaal "] The pass is called Oude Kloof. As we 
climbed up it was always to see a succession of flat topped hills just like the scenery 
of the American Canon country, and quite as volcanic. Dykes of basalt form a 
network through the country and penetrate horizontally without appreciable tilting 
of the sandstones and shales. We drove past Steenkamp's-Poort (pronounced 
Stinkum's) but stopped at Paul Melan's. He too is of Hugonaut family, but now 
only speaks Dutch. Yet in his mouth the language is soft and beautiful, every move- 
ment of his body is graceful. As he speaks his hands move expressively and quietly, 
and his face lights with smiles, what is otherwise as earnest, honest frank and rather 
commanding face. His wife though a Dutch woman seems to have caught his 
sweetness of manner but they have no children to succeed to the most tasteful 
inheritance which I have seen. He had a hand of a saurian and said that his brother 
had found it on a large slab, and finding the slab too heavy had thrown it away on 
the mountain breaking off the hand. On our return the brother should take us to 
it. I believe it is the missing mammal I am seeking but it is fractured through the 
carpus just at the point where the interest is most intense. We pressed on to 
Balmoral which somewhat reminds you of its Scotch name-sake and was formerly 
the farm of Mr Finlay, Mr Lutte gave us coffee ; and we inspanned and soon found 
ourselves on a plain more than 4000 feet above the sea without any appreciable 
descent from the mountains. The sky grew dark and everything betokened a deluge 
which would have brought wealth and joy to hundreds of homes. Sheet lightning 
and thunder were imposing and there was a little rain but it ceased by the time 



24 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

we reached the Frazerberg Hotel. Here the commissioner Mr Mynheera and 
Dr. Manson came to receive me on arrival. I went in the evening to see Mr Erth 
son of the President of the Cape Town Young Mens Christian Association, who 
fetched me a fossil from the house of the Rev. P. D. Russouw which indicates a 
new saurian genus. His Reverence is away so I could only ask to have it sent 
to me. 

Next morning Jehu was again in his seat at a quarter to seven and we were off for 
Klip-fontein in the Mountains 3! hours drive to the SE. We drew near to the back 
of the Tafelberg and reached Klipfontein about 12 o'clock. The district is occupied 
by the Erasmus family who were eager to help us and showed us where Mr Finlay 
obtained his specimens. There was a hand somewhere well known to all the boers, 
which might have belonged to a specimen, Theriodesmus which I figured but no one 
could take us to it. We found a few reptile bones, and a few fish fragments, but they 
were not worth the ride we had for them. We had to go the round of the Erasmus's 
and drink coffee with each of them after dining on our arrival with the head of the 
family. The rocks here are what are called the top of the Stormberg series where 
the shales are baked by covering lavas (now denuded) and where volcanic ash 
included many vegetable remains, too imperfect for identification. In coming back 
we examined the spot where Mr Russouw's fossil was found in purple shale, and 
reached the Frazerberg Hotel about 7 at night. Next morning we visited Mrs 
Finlay and obtained a few of her husband's fossils, — he being now in the Transvaal, 
and Mr Benjamin was sent off to buy gunny bags, so we did not start till after 
8 o'clock. We intended to breakfast at Balmoral, but Mr Liitte had sprained his 
loins, so was in bed. The house was full of the Finlay family on their way home ; 
so we got no breakfast. On the road our bread and butter came out with the 
Biltong and we drove down to John van Renau's at Steenkampspoort. At Klip- 
fontein I was brought a lump of sulphur from a neighbouring farm, perfectly pure 
which was said to extend over the surface of the country in a vein rising above 
the surface, a part of it was yellow and part brown, as though it had been heated. 
At Balmoral there is a reputed diamond mine, from which no diamond has been 
obtained but because the rock is exactly like the Kimberley rock people are putting 
their money into it. They say there is a crater. I did not visit the spot, but I 
shall be amazed if any diamonds are found, first because of the decomposition of 
the rock has not liberated one on the surface, and secondly because there is no coal 
below out of which diamonds could be formed. 

Van Renau was in the Navy speaks English, and thought that Sir Charles Lyell 
must now be very old. He brought Russian prisoners home from the Crimea. 
A hale old boy who regretted that he did not know much about fossils, having been 
a sailor. I said we could hardly expect to find fossils in the open sea, and he lamented 
that it was so. In his loft there were a few bones, of no value through bad collecting, 
but I picked out some scutes very like those of a crocodile. Mr Bain now began to 
knock up with the severity of the journey. We had coffee with Mrs Melan at Oude 
Kloof, and she gave me the coveted ' hand '. We went to her brother, who lives 
in a tent, but he was away having waited for us as long as he could. So the coveted 
animal to which the hand belongs had to be left, to my infinite regret, on the moun- 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 25 

tains somewhere between Oude Kloof and Beaufort. Mr Bain got bad, just like a 
new hat that you accidentally sit upon ; it seems to be a habit with the colonists 
to collapse like a child's house of cards. So I did not stop to make drawings of 
scenery, which was magnificent and much more impressive on the return journey. 
We reached Bex-platz where Mr Bain got to bed at once, and I dined with my Jew 
and Dutchmen. Mr Baron another Russian Jew, a feather buyer told me that you 
can now buy an ostrich for from ten to 15 shillings and that you can pluck it twice 
in 18 months, the feathers being worth 15 shillings at each plucking. The sheep are 
every where in good condition, although there has been no rain for 9 months. A 
farmer remarked that if rain fell twice a year everyone would be prosperous, but 
sometimes years pass without rain. Mistletoe grows luxuriantly on the mimosas 
and is found to be an excellent food for cattle, but the Boer with characteristic 
want of thrift cuts down the tree to get at the mistletoe so that the supply ceases. 
I had some cape brandy went to bed at 8-30 and slept like a top. Mr Bain was 




Fig. 3 



much better and we started for Tamboer about 6-30 where we once more had a 
good meal in the house of John Marais. Mr Bain got well as he knocked up. I 
got him to write a letter in Dutch to Paul Melan and he sent five shillings with it, 
to pay a Hottentot for carrying the specimen, if it can be found, so I hope it may 
eventually reach Cape Town. Marais had found a new skull, a very striking animal 
but either it had been carried away by a herd or washed away from the skeleton 
for it was freshly broken and very imperfect but still a new animal, though I know 
not what. We visited the spot and traced some fragments of the bones for a quarter 
of a mile but too imperfect for identification. After dinner we started for Bad. 
The bath is so in name only for no one here ever seems to wash, and except in towns 
water is too costly to be put to such base uses. The waggon had started long 
before with a great box on it in which the beast was to be packed. It was drawn 
by a team of Donkeys. We started in two carts and Sarel Marais of Blaauw Kop 
the discoverer of the saurian was on the spot on our arrival with a man so that we 
were 8 men and a boy. Rapid progress was made in quarrying out the animal 
which was in a bad state of preservation being in friable shale. So I am afraid much 
of its limbs have been left behind and I know its ribs have been partly destroyed. 
Still soon after sunset it was in its box, or coffin as the boers said, and we were all 
mounting the carts, except Marais' three grown up sons, who were left to drink coffee 



26 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 




and bring back the bones. We had coffee with Sarel (=Charles) Marais. He lives 
in a very poor hut and the seats of his chairs, like those of the Erasmus family, were 
made of crossed throngs of raw hide. The room was dark, with no ornaments, and 
the furniture poorer than in the house of an English labourer ; yet he was building 

a dam, and digging for water, and man- 
fully trying to feed his babies by culti- 
vating his farm. If the specimen had been 
in better condition I should have taken a 
week to extract it. But I have already 
seen some of its characters which are of 
interest. Thus the pelvis is well shown 
and in side view it shows the contour 
so that the ilium is in advance of the 
acetabulum and the ischium and pubis must 
be arranged on the Mammalian plan (Text- 
fig. 3). I was astonished when the hind 
limb was unearthed. The proximal end 
of the tibia, in contact with the femur 
showed an altogether mammalian charac- 

C"\ ter. The bones, much stouter than the 

r^ o fibula as in mammals and the astragalus 

Q^\AJ , was united to the os calcis as in some 

^^ -- — mammals (Text-fig. 4). I was impressed 

by the absence of a pulley joint at the 
astragalus and by the large size of the cal- 
caneum and saw that if the base of the 
fibula grew smaller it would result in a 
projection of the tarsal bone which would 
eventually take the mammalian form, . . . 
It was very interesting too to get one digit 
in situ and so prove that Pareiasaurus has 
claws and three phalanges in the digit as 
in mammals. I was not less delighted to get some further light on the shoulder 
girdle. The scapula is a very large expanded bone with a slight spinous ridge, 
and a strong acromion (Text-fig. 5) . The clavicle oddly enough is shaped like a bone 
in Iguanodon which Hulke has referred to the shoulder girdle. Of the coracoid I 
at present know nothing. I should have liked to remain seeking more Pareia- 
saurians but I cannot travel alone and do this work since no one speaks anything 
but Dutch. The thing would be to come with a waggon, with electric light, and 
all modern appliances ; and work without hurry, when the bones were found. This 
animal was a little disturbed after death, for some beast crawling over him had 
knocked out some of his tail vertebrae. 

I gave Sarel Marais a sovereign, and John Marais a sovereign and another pound 
was divided between John's sons. If I get nothing else I shall feel that I have some- 
thing to show for my journey. ... It was very difficult to restrain the men's 






I fed 




"V 



Fig. 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 



27 



picks from destroying what was most important to preserve, as one was working at 
each end and others were belabouring the brute with hammer and chisel, and I 
was constantly at work marking fragments with Vermillion paint to ensure their 
coming together again if they survive the journey. Marais's little boy amused us 
by proposing to look for the dragon's spoor, and Mrs Marais remarked in the evening, 
when I drew the form of the animal in the flesh, that he would have made capital 
biltong. She said she was glad the animals were all underground for she should 
never have been able to live at Tamboer with such beasts eating up the cattle. 
The whole country is, I hope now aroused to an interest in bones. 



&/fseaJ>ut^ 



\ 




Fig. 5 



I have settled the horizons of the animals. Pareiasaurus and Tapinocephalus, 
and perhaps Titanosuchus come from the lower beds of the Upper Karroo. I 
think the Dicynodons are all newer. While newest of all are the long limbed 
Dicynodonts and mammal-like forms, which may be referred to the upper part of 
what are called the Stormberg, the Upper Karroo and Lower Karroo, and mass 
them in one formation. Saturday morning we spent in packing the spoils of other 
journeys. Two boxes were nailed down, while the largest and smallest were left 
for John Marais to fasten, and the whole will travel on his waggon to Frazerberg 
Road, and by train to Cape Town. After breakfast we started at 9 o'clock for 
the station, driven by Marais. We lunched there and examined some fragments 
of bones which we had put together before going up country, but now kicked them 
over as useless. At last the train came f hour late, and we arrived in Beaufort 
West, soon after 6 o'clock. Mr De Smit had come to meet us. I stayed at the 
Royal Hotel, and Bain at another place, and I am taking my Sunday morning 
rest in writing this while Bain is with his friends. This afternoon we start once 
more. But we are giving up Murraysberg and Graaf-Reinet as making the labour 
too severe, and running the time too fine, and instead shall make our way to Cradock 



28 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

by rail, which will take one day. I wrote for your this weeks letter to be sent here, 
but it has not come. I trust you are well and happy. I have sent to you by every 
post since I landed. In the velt where everything looks parched and grey and 
every bush dead the sheep grow fat, so I hope it may be with our life if we come 
here. There is food if you take what God gives, is the lesson I learn from my life 
in the Desert, and that it is only a desert to those who demand that it shall grow 
European grass or plants which require a European Climate. You dry up, your 
nails break, paper breaks as you fold it, but still man and beast are healthy. Rheu- 
matic fever is the severest ailment but the willow everywhere provides a cure, which 
is due to exposure to cold winds after the heat of the day. 

My love to my daughters Maud, Brynhilda, Phyllis, and Sylvia. I have had 
no time till now to write to them severally ; but I remember that this month I am 
to sail in the Trojan ; and exactly a month from receiving this I shall hope to be 
with you again. I have yet far to go, to Kimberley, Aliwal North and Grahams 
Town ; but the journey is passing well, and every day will bring me nearer to you, 
when I shall tell you over again the story that I now outline, with my children 
eager about the brown men of this marvellous country. 

Thank Phyllis and Maud for their letters which I am glad to have. This after- 
noon we have been to Welte-freede and got the ribs of another new beast. The 
ribs are like wide laths and form an impenetrable armour as in some edentate. 
We found the country covered with fragments of bone, and brought some away 
but nothing good. 

Thy loving husband, 

H. G. Seeley. 



Ventersstad, 29 August 1889 

Burghers Staat, 31 August 
Aliwal North. 1 September 
My darling Wife, 

In Kimberley the houses are largely made of corrugated iron and the streets 
are irregular, just as the tents were placed. Substantial houses are appearing made 
of brick and stone. House-rent is enormous. Mr Wright tells me that a four- 
roomed house fetches £250 a year ; and that the yearly rent of any house is one 
third the cost of building. Kimberley is in a great plain about 4,400 feet above the 
sea, almost perfectly level to the Vaal though the great bridge into Barkly West 
is 300 feet lower. The only hills are those made by man in the last few years by 
the Diamond mines bringing to the surface the ' Diamond-blue ' rock, and pouring 
the washed material upon the surface. The hurry of life is great at Kimberley, 
and money is made readily and spent freely, the shops are good. The streets are 
named after the early makers of the place, Stockdale, Ebden, and of course there 
is a squalid ' Piccadilly ' with the adjacent Regent Street and Oxford Street. On 
our return from Barkly along one of the dustiest roads I ever travelled, we devoted 
the next day to seeing the De Beers mine. Mr. Feltham had horses ready and 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 



29 



drove us out to it. There is a smaller yawning hole like that of the Kimberley mine 
which is about 600 feet deep and in the centre of the Town. The mine has large 
fields like a great farm on which the rock is placed as it is brought from the mine. 
Gangs of Kaffirs went over it with hammers and broke up the masses so that the 
eye could see that they were smaller even in the distance. In nine months the 
atmosphere breaks it up so that the rock can be washed. By night these vast fields 
which bear no crop but diamonds are lighted with electricity which is also used 
in the Town. The rock is a breccia full of fragments of lava, gneiss, schist, syenite, 
shales, and in some of the shales I found vegetable fossils, which appear to be the 
same as those in the shales which extend horizontally near the surface of the country. 
Many of the pebbles are waterworn, and even perfectly rounded. This is the 
material which fills the throat or pipe of what is regarded as a volcano, and I must 
say a more extraordinary volcanic rock was never seen. The throat is oval, it 
descends more or less vertically through grey shale with Mesosaurus black shale, 
amygdaloidal lava and quartzite. In the Kimberley mine which is now only worked 
underground, the working is now descending obliquely. The machinery for washing 
is very elaborate, and the circular pans which contain the substance which is not 
removed as mud are only emptied once a day. Yet men are ceaselessly occupied 
day and night in emptying iron waggons of Blue into the pans, and other scoops 
as rapidly carry up the mud and empty it on the ever growing hills. The stones 
which remain are picked over by convicts who put the diamonds as found into tin 
pots, and sweep the residue off the table into huge cans. This waste gravel is 
examined four times before it is finally used for road paving. I was there as the 
convicts left for dinner. They stript and each in succession handed every article 
of clothing to officers to examine for concealed stones. The company is beginning 
a nursery for planting their waste land with forests and have already an immense 
number of young trees raised from seed. They have built and nearly finished a 
village for their married white employees, and near it a smaller village for the 
unmarried. We then saw the diamonds obtained in the last two days which were 
all sorted. One stone rather took my fancy it was small but would have cut into 
a fine oval ; its value in the parcel was only £3.10.0., but as a separate stone £5. 
I find that the price of diamonds fluctuates from 17/6 to 25/0 a carat and is now 
about 30/-. We then were driven to the Kimberley Club for lunch. (Kimberley 
wanted to entertain me at a public dinner but I could not spare time to stay for it). 
The club is splendidly built and fitted and as good in its way as anything in London 
with electric light throughout. We formed a little party with Judge Cole, and I 
also met there Judge Lawrence a former contributor to the Westminster Review. 
In the Afternoon the cart with fresh horses drove Mr Bain and myself back to the 
mine to go underground. We were taken down by Mr Gardener- Williams the 
manager in an inclined almost vertical trolly. On the 300 feet level we walked 
across the entire width of the throat and saw the amygdaloidal rock which surrounds 
the diamond blue. At the junction there is sometimes a slicken-side surface, and 
sometimes a seam of clay, and sometimes close contact. At the 600 feet level to 
which we descended in a steep incline in a trolly nearly on end, the temperature 
was very high and the blue rock was much more compact. After examining these 



30 HARRY GOVIER SEEI.EY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

workings, we went down to 700 feet, where the Kaffirs were wheeling up waggons 
4 abreast on tramways and emptying them with wonderful speed into the skips 
which each take 8 leads to the surface. We did not go lower. At an electric signal 
we were hauled to the surface, wet through with perspiration, with a temperature 
like a hot Turkish bath. After a short rest and a little drink we were driven to the 
Kaffir compound which is within the mine. It is an enclosure in which 1500 Kaffirs 
live and from which they never go out except to the mine during their period of 
service which is not less than two or three months. The night shift of 700 were 
there in their many coloured blankets, divided according to their nations, all looking 
very picturesque. Some were buying food or luxuries at the store, others cooking, 
others sitting in the sun or walking about. It looked almost like a bazaar to see 
their clothes or bundles hanging in front of these continuous one roomed dwellings. 
The hospital is large and roomy, one side for fever patients the other side for accidents. 
They are provided with doctor and medicine free, but have to maintain themselves 
while sick. They earn three to four shillings a day and cannot spend a penny 
on drink while in the compound. They undergo a five days detention in a special 
room before leaving to make sure that they will not carry any stones out with them. 
We drove to the Queen's Hotel for our coats and then to Du Toits pan at Beacons- 
field which I had been invited to examine. It is a vast open pit like a figure 8 
somewhat in form. We saw the streams of Kaffirs leaving work toiling up the sides 
of the mine while the bell rang. When it stopped boys lighted the fuses for blasting 
and we saw and heard the wonderful cannonade which prepares for the next day's 
work. And so back to the Hotel to dine, pack specimens and get off by the 8-35 
night train for De Aar and Colesberg. At De Aar Bain began to get unwell again. 
We reached Colesberg at about 1 pm and stayed at the Vrystaat Hotel. After lunch 
we called on the Civil Commissioner, Mr Robinson, and Mr Bain went to bed while 
he drove me to a quarry to find Fossil fish, I got some fragments, a broken reptile 
bone, and bits of reeds, but found Dr. Holub had carried away everything worth 
having ; so the Civil Commissioner proposes to put some convicts to open a quarry 
for me to obtain some. Is it not wonderful to think of being so much indebted to 
convicts. Next morning we went to a Mr Plumen's farm at Mr Bain's wish, and 
saw nothing but fossil trees, probably coniferous, mineralized with silica. I heard 
of a Mr Slutter's farm 5 hours drive away of 20 or 30 large trees with their roots 
lying prostrate parallel to each other as though overturned by a rush of water, 
perhaps an earthquake wave or the wave of a cyclone. Coming back after dining 
at the farm on bread and butter and tea, we searched Colesberg Kop a conical flat 
topped mountain of 1100 feet. Like so many of these mountains it rises out of a 
level plain, and is capped with volcanic rock. There was not a trace of a bone to 
be found. After our return we inspected the work of the prisoners at the quarry 
but no bone was to be seen, and no fish. So this morning the cart was ordered at 
6 o'clock, but the landlord did not get up till nearly seven, so we were kept waiting. 
At 9.30 we outspanned on a tributary of the Orange River and cooked breakfast. 
It was beef-sausage about 2 inches in diameter which was fried in the open cooked 
with the fuel of the country gathered from the road where dropped by the Transport 
oxen. I did not care much for the sausage. At one o'clock we outspanned and 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 31 

had bread and beef-biltong with coffee for luncheon, and afterwards examined 
some rocks for fossils and found them not rare beyond Bultfontein where the green 
shales capped with dolerite form a succession of hills like an escarpment. The fossils 
were not in good preservation and we saw nothing but skulls. This is very remark- 
able, and does look as though some of the animals lost their heads. Bain is irri- 
gation officer and is zealously looking out for sites for making reservoirs so that 
when he has finished with it the colony will be known as the country of the dammed. 
We pass the night at Ventersdorp, and tomorrow go to Burghersdorp on our way to 
Aliwal North. Bain tells me that in Namaqualand where the ant hills are larger 
than they are here the farmers give up work when the pupae are ripe and dig out 
the " rice " from which they obtain an oil by heat, and then dry the pupae for food. 
A bucketful is obtained from a single ant hill. 

I hope you are all well. I send my love and kisses to my daughters, Maud, 
Brynhilda, Phyllis and Sylvia. I come home in the Trojan due 8th October at 
Southampton. I have not wanted any winter clothing and so far have been as 
well as could be on these high plains. 

Thy loving husband 

H. G. Seeley 

Sunday. We reached Aliwal Saturday night and found Dr Atherstone at the 
Criterion Hotel. We walked into the Free State before breakfast over the Orange 
River and have spent today chiefly with Alfred Brown who is a poor man, the 
Librarian. He has lent me some of his best specimens which are either small mam- 
mals or mammal like reptiles in rocks with coal plants. Tomorrow we hunt fossils. 



QUEENSTOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, 

4 September 1889. 
My darling Wife, 

We came over very high country after leaving Venterstad rising in a succession 
of terraces till we were 5600 feet above the sea, when the view extended probably 
for a hundred miles into the Free State. In the fore ground low hills sometimes 
conical or pyramidal or flat topped rose from the level plain, and behind them 
mass after mass rising sometimes in ranges sometimes in isolated clumps all of a 
warm red colour, growing higher in the distance where their outlines rose grey far 
beyond Bloemfontein. I saw the most terrible destruction of the country going on 
everywhere, for the rains are plowing up the country and forming gorges and deep 
running rivers which drain the water from the land, in districts where formerly 
no rivers existed and where the hills were clothed with forest. But as firewood 
is worth in places like Kimberley £14 a load the hills have been bared, so that much 
of the finest land in the world will soon become desert. We dropped down among 
the mountains of Burghersdorp, about 700 feet lower, and at a sudden turn in 
the road found ourselves in a not inconsiderable Town, with the usual broad straight 



32 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

streets planted with trees and put up at the Prince Albert. They wanted us to 
occupy one room, reluctantly gave us two, then said we must put up with one. 
They acknowledged that they had plenty of room but were keeping the rooms in 
case they should be wanted, so I ordered the horses in again and determined to go 
on by train to Aliwal. It turned out afterwards that the landlord was keeping 
the rooms for ourselves. However his accommodation was bad and he was impudent, 
and we had heard from Dr Kannemeyer that Atherstone had already gone to Aliwal. 
So we went on in a goods train, in the guards van with the mail. Dr. Kannemeyer 
is an enthusiastic collector, whose duties as a surgeon carry him into fossiliferous 
localities. Atherstone left word that we were to put up at the Criterion. We 
found that he had already been to see Alfred Brown and arranged to see his fossils 
at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. So we went. Brown is a short, withered looking 
miserable man of about 55 of the grizzled unkempt type. He showed me the 
Maxillary bone of Euskelesaurus of which we saw some tail vertebrae and pelvic 
bone in Gaudry's museum. It is shaped like the maxillary of Megalosaurus and 
has two teeth preserved. He has a few toe bones and claws similar to those figured 
by Paul Fischer. All of which he has lent to me with permission to sell to the 
British Museum for him, if he approves of the terms. But I was more interested 
in getting from him a large number of teeth and fragments of jaws, some of which 
I feel sure are mammals and some of which are mammal like, but unfortunately 
they are too fragmentary to show what they really are though indicating new genera. 
It was a great wrench to him to part with them for he loves his fossils as though 
they were children. After seeing them he showed us his living pets, a small zoo- 
logical garden with the finest assemblage of Lizards, and some Tortoises, and birds. 
He had £50 a year as Librarian, and a pension of £30 a year, and told me he would 
gladly give up his position as Librarian if he could get £30 a year for collecting 
fossils. He has an interesting series of fossil plants Stigmaria, Lepidodendron, 
Glossopteris, Pecopteris and other ferns, such as Neuropteris Sphenopteris and 
others new to me. So that I formed the opinion that the rocks are similar to the 
Indian and Australian lower mesozoic series which also contain coal ; and I formed 
the opinion that these rocks are high in the series called Stormberg. Dr Atherstone 
contested my view, but some days later had to give in, I went to the Treasurer of 
the Library and begged a days holiday for Mr Brown who drove with us to the 
Kraai river. It is a good river and as the water was rising our driver, an old French- 
Dutch farmer, feared to drive through, because he might not be able to drive back. 
So we went over in a boat at the Wool wash which stands high above the river and 
yet is occasionally carried away by floods. A Kaffir carried our dinner and pots and 
pans on his head for two miles which we walked to the mountain. We searched and 
found many fragments of bone, but nothing of interest till Brown struck the lower 
jaw of Euskelesaurus. No one knew what it was. The articulation was of great 
interest and importance as showing the articular bone in the Saurischia. As Brown 
worked away he grew excited as a terrier at a rat hole. Unfortunately the anterior 
part of the jaw came to the surface and was lost for it was in a deserted waggon road, 
but there were fragments of teeth, sufficient to determine the genus. In the after- 
noon we drove back, to visit the locality where Brown got the mammal-like teeth. 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 33 

It was a most unlikely spot, greatly denuded ; but Bain found a small and useful 
fragment of a skull. I was delighted with Aliwal and sorry to leave it. Next day 
we came south to Cyphergat [Syfergat] which is past Molteno to see the coal mines. 
Some coal ferns were brought to us at the Molteno station. And at Cyphergat we 
had to take scanty accommodation, two beds in a room at the highest rates. There 
are about 20 whites and 300 Kaffirs. Some of the whites were Ilkeston men from 
Derbyshire who had attended my Gilchrist lecture there. The coal seam is about 
3 feet thick, with two thick partings of clay. The coal burns as well as much that 
we get. It is sold at the pits mouth at 14 shillings a ton. The Kaffirs earn about 
18/- a week and live on 2/- a week, many never touch stimulants and save their 
money to buy cattle, others spend everything at the Cyphergat Hotel. The white 
men earn £6 a week and can live on 15/-. We went into the workings till it became 
necessary to crawl on the abdomen carrying your little lamp. We got samples 
of the plants, chiefly ferns, but after being in house all night the vegetable substance 
flaked off. Above the coal in the sandstone I found tree stumps standing erect 
one above another without underclay. The upper tree is carbonized, 80 cm high, 
and 25 cm wide at the base. The one below is in sandstone and is remarkable for 
having the roots jointed and ribbed like a Calamite, only in section the calamite 
form is an internal cast while the external carbonaceous tissue has the nodes elevated 
instead of being constricted. Some of the tree stumps are very wide in the extension 
of their roots. So that there can I think be no doubt that the trees grew on the spot 
and that the coal grew where found and is not drift coal. We also drove to the 
mine at Fairview where there are only two white men. Coming south to Queenstown 
we saw the far off hills towards Tarkastadt and much striking scenery. We left 
behind the raw winds of Cyphergat and we descended to level, came upon a land of 
rich farms in fine scenery near Bailey and further south on the west of the line. 
Enormous mountains are often red at the base with masses of blossoming Aloe. 
Owing I suppose to my movement I have not had any letter from you for a fortnight, 
and till I get to Grahamstown I shall have no news of you. I hope you are all well 
and happy. It is only a fortnight before I sail. 

Thy loving husband 
H. G. Seeley. 



Grahams Town 

South Africa, 
9 Sept 1889. 
My darling Wife, 

My travelling is now practically over, and I am looking forward to the journey 
home. From Queens Town I went to Lady Frere which is a days journey and there 
we got a vertebral column entire which will be most valuable. All those things 
have been sent to East London to go by sea to Capetown. Dr Berry who went with 
us gave me two good portions of skulls which anyone would say were mammalian 
but are probably reptilian. We parted at Queenstown, Mr Bain going to King 



34 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

William's Town and I coming on with Dr Atherstone by cart. We crossed the 
Katberg in two days and had a grand view of the country and on Sunday reached 
Fort Beaufort, and am now here so that I am glad to have a days rest after 5 days 
life in a cart which always begins at 6 o'clock in the morning. 

I have already taken a brief survey of the museum, which has at least one interest- 
ing specimen. On the whole the results of my journey are thoroughly satisfactory. 
If not quite all that I wish, at least altogether superior to anything ever obtained 
by a visitor to the colony. Tomorrow I am to lecture on ' Scientific Discoveries in 
South Africa ', in the Public Library. Mr Bain joins me tomorrow, and on Wednes- 
day we return to Cape Town. I believe I have two lectures to give in Cape Town, 
and I have to arrange about getting all my things to England. I have also my report 
to write for the Government on the Gold Fields, and various public men to see, with a 
view to future movements in future years. 

And now a word to my dear children. I am longing very much to see you all 
and be with you again for I have had no letters for the last three weeks, though I 
have telegraphed for news to the Capetown Post Office. 

I have seen so many children who grow up without ever wearing clothes that I 
shall be glad to get home to civilization. The thing I have missed most in the way 
of comforts is a bath, since the water is so scarce that you learn to wash in a teacup. 
I have seen wonderful plants and trees ; but fewer wild animals. I have met with 
the greatest kindness from everyone. I had had the life nearly jolted out of me in 
being jolted by the carts over thousands of miles of country covered with big stones. 
I have seen an astonishing number of ugly people, and very few who are good 
looking, though many are well grown. I have seen more mountains than I could 
easily count and thousands more than I can remember. And now my darling on 
the 18th September I sail in the Trojan and pray for a safe and speedy voyage to 
bring me once more to thee and to our children ; and to our Vine, when I can tell 
over again the story of this wonderful land of plenty in the desert. I have no doubt 
the Union Company would send you news of our coming to port. 

Thy loving husband, 

H. G. Seeley. 

Please tell Miss Schmidt I shall lecture at Kensington Square on the Geological 
Succession and History of the British Strata. 



That the effects of Seeley's visit were not transitory can be gathered from the 
following letter sent to him by Daniel Russouw Kannemeyer, a keen collector and 
railway medical practitioner in Burgersdorp. The Dicynodont Kannemeyeria, of 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 35 

which several specimens are in the Museum, was named in his honour by Seeley 
in 1908. 

BURGHERSDORF, 

3rd May 1891 
My Dear Sir, 

I am much gratified that the specimens I have been instrumental in introducing 
to you have proved of such interest. I have always maintained that we had here 
the connecting links between Reptiles and Mammals. On a recent visit to Grahams- 
town Museum I found the various pieces of the best head I had contributed knocking 
about amongst heaps of stones, in several parts of the Curators room. One or two 
pieces I failed to recover. Originally it had complete upper and lower jaws, and 
the whole of one side of the skull. Perfectly undisturbed and imbedded in friable 
shale which a pen knife could clear, it formed a perfect example for minute examina- 
tion. It was a different species from any of the others I sent. No other bone occur- 
red with it. Recently I have again made a find which is new to me and may prove 
of interest. Five or six portions of maxillae and mandible, which I diagnose as 
Batrachian. The outer surface freely sculptured and pitted on the Lab. type ; a 
series of small oval teeth closely set along the whole alveolar border ; at a lower 
level and rising from the inside of the rami, are bold well defined canines, which 
under even a low pocket lens show Labyrinthic dental structure. In the upper jaw 
in a line with the canine a second series of more or less uniform sized teeth occurs 
extending backwards. I found no other bones of the animal. I have deeply burnt 
your remarks about the desirability of obtaining the bones of these animals into my 
memory, and have little doubt that I shall soon be in a position to supply the want. 
It is, however, a remarkable fact that one often gets a number of heads and no other 
bones. Brown, Aliwal, has a theory that the bodies were floating ; as they de- 
composed the heads dropped off and the inflated carcass drifted elsewhere and 
gradually broke up. After I heard of your intended visit to Burghersdorf I cleared 
up some patches of bones in a bank of red shale, sloping precipitously into the river, 
about a mile from the village. I left things in situ for you. Recently Revd D. 
Fraser, Port Elizabeth, Inspector of Schools, present president of our Geol. Society, 
passed through our village. I took him to the spot. The heavy rains had washed 
away one patch, but in the other we found the greater portion of a dicynodon head, 
which he has added to his collection. On previous occasions I had found these 
three heads, all D. (Dicynodon) and one serrated tooth, but no trunk bones. The 
head differs from those I found at Bethesda. 

I would have sent you the jaws previously mentioned, ere this, but I intend first 
to show them at our annual meeting of the Geol. Society, next July in Kimberley. 
We are all in the dark here as to what is really wanted at " Home ", and it has just 
struck me that a letter addressed to us, indicating lines of research will be of the 
utmost value, will give us a much desired and needed stimulus, and be productive 
of results. Or you might give a very short summary of the results of your visit 
to S.A. which I could read as a letter. I fear we will have very few papers. The 
Society is in very bad hands just now, Atherstone's brain is softening, and he is no 



36 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

good as President ; Wilmott has his hands full with politics, knows nothing of 
Geology and took the Secretaryship at a time when he wanted his name before the 
public in as many ways as possible, with an eye to his future election to Parliament. 
We all regret that the negotiations fell through which would have secured you for 
S.A. for some years. It would have given the study a fillip much needed. Our 
best man, Dr Shaw is dead. His idea was to start a Geol. Society and hold the 
annual meeting concurrently with the Teachers Annual Congress, in the expectation 
that some of the teachers might be around to take an interest in the subject and teach 
it as a living science. I have succeeded in interesting several of our farmers in 
geology, but stern puritans that they are, with one exception, they gave it up, 
when they saw that its conclusions tended to undermine their primitive creed as to 
creation and age of the world, etc. and that the wonderful fossils are not the remains 
of Elephants, Elands and other game. 

Next Sunday I shall remove a jaw from a rock about i| mile from here. It is 
also one of the things I left in situ for you. It is a mandible, shallow and almost 
circular, but perfectly smooth on its outer surface. 

During my next visit to Capetown I shall submit the Museum cellars to a thorough 
search. I must recover (a) the " Wonderboom " fossil, the four-canined one, (b) 
the minute animals I found embedded with it, (c) several heads I sent. Under the 
present curator in Grahamstown, there is a guarantee that specimens will be looked 
after. Dr. Schonland is no palaeontologist, but he does not neglect the material 
in which he is not interested. When the proposed removal of the S.A. Museum 
becomes an established fact, either to the castle or to a special building, we may hope 
to see some of the treasures now in the vaults exposed to view. 

If you took with you a jaw partially cleared, with the condylar part of the ascend- 
ing ramus wanting, I may mention that I have the fragment here in a block 14 in. 
X 14 X 10, which shows bone on all its surfaces. I have also part of the scapula 
(presumably : it was found with the jaw but weathered out.) 

Yours faithfully, 

D. R. Kannemeyer. 

The correspondence continued for some years and the following extract from a 
letter in April 1895, shows that Seeley's memory lingered on in South Africa. 

BURGHERSDORF, 

22nd April 1895 
Extract 

. . . Your reported death caused much wailing amongst S. African geologists, but 
I kept up hope, still I was so much influenced that I tore up a long letter I was in the 
act of writing to you when the local editor walked into my study with Reuters wire 
in his hands stating " Prof Seeley is dead ". 

Yours sincerely, 

D. R. Kannemeyer. 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 37 

A Professor Seeley was in fact dead, but it was the Professor of History in Cam- 
bridge, Sir John Seeley, who died on 13th January, 1895. As has been said Sir John 
was first cousin to H. G. Seeley. 

It now seems remarkable that in this visit of a few months he should have been 
enabled to do so much. 

He recognized the geological horizons from which the specimens that Owen had 
described had come. He explored the Lower Karroo rocks and discovered the 
Pareiasaurus skull and skeleton now exhibited in the Fossil Reptile Gallery of the 
British Museum (Natural History). He examined the Middle Karroo beds and 
found many interesting forms but not the whole Dicynodon skeleton for which he 
was looking. At Lady Frere, near Queenstown, the type of Cynognathus (R.2571) 
and other fine specimens were discovered and skulls of Gomphognathus were collected. 

Not the least of his achievements were the friendships he created with important 
collectors and residents whose names are now preserved in palaeontological litera- 
ture, such as Thomas Bain, Irrigation Officer ; Dr. Kannemeyer, with whom Seeley 
engaged in a lively correspondence over the years and which is now preserved in 
the library of the Palaeontological Department of the British Museum ; and Mr. 
Alfred Brown of Aliwal North who gave him specimens for the Museum. 

In any case the described specimens came to the Museum where the Seeley 
Collection has long been appreciated and where much of it is on public exhibition. 

The scientific fruits of this expedition were sufficient to keep the collector busy 
for years to come. As has been said they formed the major part of a series of papers 
in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. The series is 
entitled Researches on the Structure, Organization and Classification of the Fossil 
Reptilia and dated 1887. They are sometimes also referred to in this form in 
bibliographies and catalogues. 

It may therefore be of service to enumerate the papers and point out their 
sequence : 

Part I. (1887) Phil. Trans., (B) 178 : 187-213, pis. 14-16. 

" On Protorosaurus speneri (von Meyer) ". 

Although this is not a South African reptile it was one which the Grant from the 
Royal Society had enabled him to see during his European visits preparatory 
to the Cape Colony expedition. In the paper he gave a full description and an 
excellent figure of the specimen in the Royal College of Surgeons collection, and as 
this was one of the victims of London bombing in the second World War the paper 
is still of great value. 

Part II. (1888) Phil. Trans., (B) 179 : 59-105, pis. 12-21. 

" On Pareiasaurus bombidens (Owen), and the Significance of its affinities to 
Amphibians, Reptiles, and Mammals." 

This was essentially a description of the skull and skeleton from Palmiet Fontein 
sent to the British Museum by Thomas Bain in May, 1878 and prepared under the 
direction of William Davies (Regd. no. 49426). Owen had originally regarded 
Pareiasaurus as a dinosaur and Seeley was able to correct this view. 



38 HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 

Part III. (1888) Phil. Trans., (B) 179 : 141-155, pi. 26. 

" On parts of the skeleton of a mammal from Triassic rocks of Klipfontein, Fraser- 
berg, South Africa (Theriodesnius philarchus, Seeley), illustrating the reptilian in- 
heritance in the mammalian hand ". 

This splendid specimen of a reptilian forelimb and hand was collected by Mr. 
Thomas Bain and presented to the British Museum in 1878. It is registered 49392. 
Seeley sought to establish that it was mammalian but the concensus of modern 
opinion, like that of Bain himself, is that it is a Therocephalian, despite the formula 
(2,3.3.3,3) f° r its phalanges. 

Part IV was, for some unknown reason, never published. 

Part V. (1888) Phil. Trans., (B) 179 : 487-501, pis. 75, 76. 

" On associated bones of a small anomodont reptile, Keirognathus cordylus 
(Seeley), showing the relative dimensions of the anterior parts of the skeleton, and 
structure of the fore-limb and shoulder-girdle ". 

The little specimen was also collected by Thomas Bain and is registered 49413. 

Part VI. (1889) Phil. Trans., (B) 180 : 215-296, pis. 9-25. 

This part was a much needed review of the anomodont reptiles and their allies, 
made possible by Seeley on account of his first hand knowledge. It is a paper which 
is still valuable to the student. 

Part VII. (1892) Phil. Trans., (B) 183 : 311-370, pis. 17-23. 

" Further observations on Pareiasaurus ". 

This was, as the title suggests, a review of the osteology of that important 
Cotylosaur but it was illumined by many studies that the author had made in the 
three years since his earlier communication on Pareiasaurus and it was prefaced by 
a statement on the Geological horizons of South Africa. 

Part VIII. (1894) Phil. Trans., (B) 185 : 663-717, pis. 60-63. 

" Further evidences of the skeleton in Deuterosaurus and Rhopalodon from the 
Permian rocks of Russia". 

These two Dinocephalians have strong resemblances to South African genera, so 
that in this series of papers Seeley was clearing his own mind in preparation for a 
grand review of South African fossil reptiles, a review that was encompassed in 
Part IX of the series, which was split into six sections and constitutes a great con- 
tribution to the basic knowledge and classification of the fauna. 

It is quite remarkable that among the many official calls upon his time and his 
self-imposed regime of lecturing, he should have been able to produce this important 
work. These papers need perhaps only be listed here : 
Section 1. Phil. Trans., (B) 185 : 987-1018, pi. 88. 

" On the Therosuchia ". 
Section 2. (1894) Phil. Trans., (B) 185 : 1019-1028, pi. 89. 

" The reputed mammals from the Karroo formation of Cape Colony ". 



HARRY GOVIER SEELEY AND THE KARROO REPTILES 



39 



Section 3. (1894) Phil. Trans., (B) 185 : 1029-1041, pi. 89. 

" On Diademodon ". 
Section 4. (1895) Phil. Trans., (B) 186 : 1-57, pis. 1, 2. 

" On the Gomphodontia ". 
Section 5. (1895) Phil. Trans., (B) 186 : 59-148, 34 figs. 

" On the skeleton in new Cynodontia from the Karroo rocks '*. 
Section 6. (1895) Phil. Trans., (B) 186 : 149-162, 4 figs. 

" Associated remains of two small skeletons from Klipfontein, Fraserberg ". 

These were Theromus and Herpetochirus both now regarded, somewhat uncer- 
tainly, as Bauriamorph reptiles. 

This important series of papers thus ended in 1895. Seeley's own specimens were 
received in the British Museum (Palaeontological Department) from 1892 onwards, 
being presented by the Council of the Royal Society. 

Seeley's researches on reptiles, old and new, still continued and the pages of the 
Geological Magazine, the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society and the Annals 
and Magazine of Natural History all bear testimony to his industry. Still the reptiles 
of South Africa claimed most of his attention but in 1901 he produced Dragons of 
the Air, an account of the flying reptiles, which, though now out of print, is still a 
standard work on the subject that has never been replaced. 

The Geological Magazine in June 1907 published a brief account of his work to 
which is appended a bibliography of his writings to that date. Alas, there was not 
much more that he could accomplish. A year later he was stricken with illness 
and gave his last lectures. He died on January 8th, 1909, after much suffering in 
his home at 2, Holland Park Court, London, W. 

Honours came naturally to him in some number. He served several times on 
the Council of the Geological Society. He was Vice-President in the years 1900-1902. 
He received the Murchison Fund in 1875 and the Lyell Medal in 1885. In 1879 
he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. He was elected a Foreign Member of 
the Philadelphia Academy in 1878, of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna 
in 1880, of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow in 1889, and of the Sencken- 
berg Natural History Society of Frankfurt in 1895. He became a Corresponding 
Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg in 1902, and a Fellow 
of King's College, London, his own College, in 1905. 

His works and specimens remain a living testimony to his memory and a funda- 
mental contribution to the understanding of the evolution of the reptiles, particu- 
larly those of South Africa. 




PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY 
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SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS 
OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 




Edited by WARREN R. DAWSON 



BULLETIN OF 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 2 

LONDON: 1962 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



Edited by WARREN R. DAWSON 




Pp. 41-70 



BULLETIN OF 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 2 

LONDON: 1962 



THE BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 
(NATURAL HISTORY), instituted in 1949, is 
issued in Jive series corresponding to the Departments 
of the Museum, and an Historical Series. 

Parts will appear at irregular intervals as they become 
ready. Volumes will contain about three or four 
hundred pages, and will not necessarily be completed 
within one calendar year. 

This paper is Vol. 3, No. 2 of the Historical 
series. 



Trustees of the British Museum, 1962 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

Issued October, 1962 Price Eight Shillings 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR 
JOSEPH BANKS 

Edited by WARREN R. DAWSON 

PREFACE 

Since the publication in December 1958 by the Trustees of the British Museum of 
The Banks Letters in which over 7,000 letters were calendared, a number of further 
letters has become available. 

Of the 139 letters summarized in the present publication, there are four important 
series, viz. : (1) 38 letters from Banks to the antiquary Francis Douce, in the Bodleian 
Library ; (2) 28 letters from Banks to the second Earl Spencer, In preserved in the 
Muniment Room at Althorp, Northamptonshire, (3) 26 letters from Banks to Dawson 
Turner, in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge; and (4) 16 letters from Banks 
to Matthew Flinders and his wife, now in the possession of Miss A. Flinders Petrie. 

Several letters are included from copies of which the originals are in American 
Libraries ; there is also a small series relating to the appointment of a Chaplain to 
Banks whilst holding the office of High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1794, which were 
originally in the Evidence Room at Revesby Abbey. The remainder are miscellaneous 
in character, and among them are ten letters which were inadvertently passed over 
when The Banks Letters was in preparation. 

The thanks of the Trustees are due to the Keeper of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian 
Library, to the present Earl Spencer, to the Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
and to Miss Petrie for their kind permission to include in this Supplement the four 
series of letters mentioned above 

The method of presentation in this Supplement is the same as that of The Banks 
Letters, but to several of the letters, or groups of letters, I have added some explana- 
tory notes. Letters marked with an asterisk are those written by Banks himself. 



ALLAN, Thomas, F.R.S. (1777-1833) Mineralogist. 

1. Soho Square, 1819 July 31.* Sympathises with the preference for a Scotsman for 
a Chair in Edinburgh Univeristy ; he has pleasant recollec- 
tions of the literati of Edinburgh he met during his stay 
there in 1773 ; Babbage, a young mathematician has gone 
there in the hope that [John] Leslie would be appointed to 
the Chair of Natural Philosphy thereby vacating that of 
Mathematics for which he is a candidate ; the prospects of 
[Thomas] Jackson of St. Andrew's for the Chair of Natural 
Philosophy. [The Brentford postmark shows that this letter, 

HIST., 3, 2 2 



44 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

though dated from Soho Square, was written at Spring Grove. 
The letter is addressed to " Thomas Allene or Allen." The 
original is in the Library of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, 
Penn.] 

Dawson MS. 46. 105. 

The Chair of Natural Philosphy at Edinburgh became vacant on the death of John 
Playfair in 18 19, and John Leslie, who was already Professor of Mathematics, was the suc- 
cessful candidate. Leslie's candidature for the Chair in 1805 was opposed by the Church 
Party owing to his supposed heterodox views, but he was nevertheless duly appointed. 
(See B.L. pp. 531-532, Nos. 8-1 1). Jackson mentioned in the letter, was Professor of 
Natural Philosophy at St. Andrew's. William Wallace succeeded Leslie in the Chair of 
Mathematics for which Charles Babbage was a candidate. In his Passages from the life of a 
Philosopher, 1864, Babbage says, (p. 474) : " In 18 19 the Professorship of Mathematics was 
vacant by the death of Playfair and the succession of Professor Leslie to his chair. I im- 
mediately became a candidate and received testimony of my fitness from Lacroix, Biot and 
Laplace. These communications, though gratifying to myself, were useless for the object. 
Not being a Scot, I was rejected at Edinburgh." 

BELL, Thomas John. (1759-1819) Town Clerk of Lincoln. {B.L. p. 44). 

7. Soho Square. 1794 Feb. 26.* Considers his cousin, the Rev. George Filmer, the 
most suitable person to be his Chaplain [during his office of 
High Sheriff] ; failing Filmer, he suggests the Rev. Robert 
Chaplin or his brother William, to whom he has written ; 
if all of these fail, he requests Bell to find a Chaplain. 

B.M. (N.H.) Banks Con. 184. 

Banks was appointed High Sheriff of Lincolnshire rather unexpectedly and out of turn. 
The reason was the desire of the Corporation to have a strong man in office to deal with the 
Militia and the defence problems of the county. The Rev. G. Filmer's relationship was 
probably on the side of Lady Banks as the Filmers were a Kentish family. The name does 
not occur in the Pedigree of the Banks Family, {Dawson MS. 47.3.) The Rev. Robert 
Chaplin (d. 1839), was a member of the well-known Lincolnshire family of which the present 
Viscount Chaplin is a descendant. (See B.L. p. 212, and insert there the dates of Charles 
Chaplin, 1759-1821). The Rev. William Chaplin, a younger brother of Robert, was Rector 
of Raithby and died in 1835. 

BLIGH, William, F.R.S. (1754-1817) Naval Officer. (See B.L. pp. 106-108.) 

24. Soho Square. 1787 Nov. 15.* Informs Bligh that one pound of arsenic is sufficient 
to destroy all the rats and cockroaches on the voyage if 
properly economized, but if his officers do not know how to 
administer it in sufficiently small quantities, 2 lbs. should be 
amply sufficient. 

B.M. {N.H.) Banks Corr. 183. 

This letter is one of the many that passed between Banks and Bligh during the long period 
when the Bounty was awaiting favourable weather to sail. Most of these letters are in the 
Mitchell Library, Sydney. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 45 

BROUGHAM, Henry Peter, Baron Brougham and Vaux, F.R.S. (1778-1868). 
Lord Chancellor. (See B.L. p. 154.) 

6. Soho Square. 1799 Juty 2I * Replies to queries as to the weather when Banks 

visited the Western Isles and Iceland in the Sir Lawrence 
[in 1772] ; it was uniformly fine ; sailors have a dread of 
being captured by the French and the harsh treatment they 
receive ; he concludes that Brougham has quite made up his 
mind to attempt the voyage in spite of the dangers on the 
coast of Norway ; recommends a tour of Sweden for its 
mineralogical and other scientific interest, and also a visit to 
Denmark though he knows little of that Kingdom. [The 
original is in New York Public Library. T. B. Myers Coll. 
2285]. 

Dawson MS. N.B. 179. 3-4. 

7. Revesby Abbey. [1799. Sept. or Oct.]* Having few friends in the countries 

Brougham intends to visit, he cannot help with letters of 
introduction ; urges him to postpone the journey on account 
of the health of his aged father, but if he persists, he will give 
Br. letters to Archbishop Troil of Stockholm and to [Peter 
Simon] Pallas of St. Petersburgh. [The original is in New York 
Public Library, T. B. Myers Coll. 2287]. 

Dawson MS. N.B. 179. 4 vo. 

Brougham had evidently asked Banks for information respecting a tour he proposed to 
make in Northern Europe. In the first letter the name of the ship in which Banks made his 
expedition to Iceland in 1772 is mentioned. I found it for the first time in the passport 
issued by the Danish Government through Diede von Furstenstein in London, dated 2 July, 
1772 (B.L. p. 260). The document is in Latin, and the ship is named in the heading of the 
list of persons in Bank's party in the following terms : 

" Designatio omnium comitum generosi Josephi Banks, Armigeri, cujus sumptibus 
Navis, Laurentius dicta, & per Navarcham Johannem Hunter vehenda, instructa est." 

The name of the ship is nowhere stated in the various biographies of Banks. In his letter 
to Brougham Banks gives it as " Sir Lawrence " whereas in the passport it is called simply 
"Laurence." The first port of call was Plymouth and Lloyd's List of 28 July 1772 reports a 
vessel " St. Lawrence ", Master Hunter, arriving at Plymouth on 24 July and sailing for 
Iceland next day. Lloyd's Agent may have written " Sir ", in the manner usual at the time, 
as " Sf ", which was mistaken for " S* " by the printer. 

BROWN, Robert, F.R.S. (1773-1858) Botanist. (See B.L. p. 172.) 

15. Sydney. 1803 Aug. 6. This long dispatch, (10 pp.), deals mainly with the follow- 
ing subjects : — Has written twice since July, 1802, from Cumber- 
land Island and from Timor ; Capt. Flinders is to return to Eng- 
land for another ship to finish his survey ; he (Brown) and Bauer, 
(B.L. p. 39) will remain but Allen will return home ; death of 
Peter Good from dysentery ; plans for botanical exploration 



46 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

during the absence of Flinders ; results so far in Zoology and 
Mineralogy have been poor ; of plants, about 2000 species have 
been observed of which 700 or 800 are new ; describes his method 
of writing descriptions of which about 1600 are done ; is sending 
only a few plants by Porpoise in one puncheon, the rest, packed in 
two puncheons, will follow by the first opportunity ; the garden, 
[i.e. living plants], is embarked in Porpoise, containing what is 
left of that in Investigator which suffered severely ; has sent lists 
and boxes of seeds, some of which are for Kew ; difficulties in 
obtaining proper boxes have led to using puncheons which are not 
wholly satisfactory ; specimens on board during the cruise 
suffered much from mice and insects ; anatomical details of 
Monotremata ; difficulty of procuring a gardener to take charge 
of living plants ; requires a new supply of botanical paper ; 
Bauer will give an account of his activities in drawing ; [William] 
Westall is returning with a small collection of plants, birds and 
shells. [Received by Banks 14 Aug. 1804 ; follows B.L. 173, 
No. 7]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439, 104-108. 

16. Sydney. 1803 Sept. 14. Announces loss of Porpoise and of all the collections on 

board except boxes of seeds some of which may still be serviceable ; 
the lost garden comprized the best specimens, of some of which 
there are fortunately duplicates ; hopes for an opportunity of 
visiting Van Diemen's Land and Norfolk Island ; a new species 
of Dideiphis has been found of which James Inman, [1776-1859, 
Astronomer to the expedition], has two living animals which he 
hopes to send home, but if they die anatomical examination will 
be made ; observations of the Hystrix, [Echidna] ; has procured 
boxes from the wreck of Porpoise in which to raise living plants. 
[Draft or copy with many corrections, deletions and interlinea- 
tions. Follows B.L. p. 173, No. 7] 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439, 131-132. 

17. [Sydney 1805] Sends as desired particulars of the death of Peter Good who 

succumbed to dysentery, n June, 1803 ; his effects have been 
sold, excepting his papers which are now in his, (R.B.'s) posses- 
sion ; W. T. Aiton is his executor, his will having been made 
before he left England. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439, 100. 



The foregoing three letters of Robert Brown were inadvertently omitted from the 
series in B.L. pp. 172-174. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 47 

CARLISLE, Sir Anthony, F.R.S. (1768-1840) Surgeon. (See B.L. p. 201.) 

5. Revesby Abbey. 1808 Oct. 23.* Although he has a high opinion of C.'s talents 

and ability, he would not venture to recommend to the 
Royal Academy any person for an office for which the 
qualifications are best judged by members of the [medical] 
profession ; he will always testify as to C's talents when 
it can be done without creating invidious comparison with 
other deserving persons. [Original in the Library of the 
American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia]. 

Dawson MS. 46. 101. 

Carlisle was a candidate for the Professorship of Anatomy at the Royal Academy of 
Arts. There were three candidates, all well-known anatomists — Joshua Brookes, Carlisle 
and Charles Bell. The minutes of the General Assembly of the R.A. of 3 Dec. 1808 read as 
follows : — 

"It being the Day appointed to elect a Professor in Anatomy in the room of Jno. 
Sheldon, Esq. Deceased — Proceeded to the Election. Candidates Joshua Brooks, 
Anthony Carlisle & Charles Bell Esq^ 

" The President then declared Ant? Carlisle duly Elected Professor in Anatomy in the 
Royal Academy." 

CHAPLIN, Rev. Robert, (d. 1839) Vicar of Tathwell. 

1. [Soho Square. 1794 Feb. 26]* Having been appointed rather suddenly to the 
office of High Sheriff, he is informed by Bell that it is neces- 
sary to nominate a Chaplain ; in view of the long friendship 
between their families, he requests Chaplin to undertake 
the office ; in case C. is unable to accept, requests that he 
should ask his brother William to do so ; the matter is 
urgent as the sermon has to be preached on 9 March. 

B.M. (N.H.) Banks Corr. 185. 
See the remarks s.v. T. J. Bell, above. 

DOUCE, Francis F.S.A. (1757-1854) Antiquary. 

1. Soho Square. 1808 Jan. 3.* [Dated in error 1807]. Acknowledges gift of D.'s 

work, [Illustrations of Shakespeare, 2 vols. 1807] and encloses 
a commentary on certain passages. 

Bodleian MS. Douce d. 21. 75. 

2. [Soho Square. 1808 Jan. 3]* Enclosure in No. 1, headed "Memorandums on 

Reading M r Douce's very interesting illustrations 1807-1808. 
Commentary on 30 passages containing many valuable 
observations. (4 pp. folio). 

MS. Douce d. 29. 61-62. 

3. Soho Square. [1808] Mar. 6.* Thanks D. for his appreciation of the commentary; 

criticizes two statements made by Stephen Weston on phrases 
used by Shakespeare. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 59. 



4 8 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

4. Soho Square. [1808] Mar. 24.* He has kept so long the Novae Narrationes, [an early 

law book, printed twice by Pynson in undated editions and 
then by Tottil in 1561], as he wished to consult Dr. 
[Maxwell] Garthshore as to the meaning of a certain gynae- 
cological term ; rape in Common Law and its interpretation. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 42-43. 

5. Soho Square. 1808 Apr. 16* Returns the book of Randle Holm, [Academy of 

Armoury, 1688], and comments on his mention of cater- 
pillars and the ducking-stool ; a dialogue attributed to 
Gervase of Tilbury, [early 13th century]. 

MS. Douce d. 21. 163. 

6. Soho Square. [1808] Dec. 14.* Apologises for not returning a letter as it had been 

hidden in his drawer by Dr. Robert Brown and only just 
found ; he has sought in vain for the word Pavade ; descrip- 
tion of tippets and hoods ; considers Pavise and Pavade to 
be unrelated words ; etymology of Bodkin — a poignard 
carried in a pouch . 

M.S. Douce d. 29. 54. 

7. Soho Square. [1808] Dec. 15.* He wishes to censure the Dean and Chapter of 

Lincoln for selling the lead of two spires and the books in the 
library of the Cathedral ; he cannot induce D. to accept his 
reading of Pavade ; considers the word Bedel or Beadle was 
degraded in popular language to mean Executioner ; Costrell 
Cups and their ceremonial carriage by pages or soldiers. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 37-38. 

8. Soho Square. [1809 Jan.?]* [Dated " Sunday Morn."]. Long discussion of the 

nature and uses of hoods and tippets in medieval dress, 
quoting Chaucer, Holm and Knighton ; the corresponding 
female hood was called a Liripipe, [Liripoops], and gives 
instances of the use of the word. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 44-45. 

9. Soho Square. [1809] Feb. 16.* Thanks D. for correcting his wrong impression that 

the Clopir was the cover of a cup, and is now satisfied that it 
is the same as Claquette or Castagnette ; further discussion 
of Hoods and Liripoops ; believes the " calle " which covered 
the head of Elizabeth [of York] when she married Henry VII 
to be a caul or cowl. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 47. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 49 

10. Soho Square .[1809] Mar. 19.* Informs D. that a letter-book of Lord Capel when 
Lord Lieutenant [Lord Justice, 1693] of Ireland is for sale by 
the bookseller Denley ; the book formerly belonged to 
Richard Oldworth. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 40. 

n. Soho Square. [1809?] Apr. 16.* Returns a book of which his sister has a copy ; 
she will be happy if D. will call to inspect her Archery collec- 
tions and compare notes. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 55. 

12. [Soho Square. 1809? — ]* Returns D.'s books by his sister, being unwilling to 

entrust them to any other hand ; thanks D. for his correction 
of the meaning of Clopir. [End missing.] 

MS. Douce d. 29. 58. 

13. Soho Square. [1809?]— [From Miss Banks, dated " Saturday "]. Returns a book 

(not named) and asks for the next two volumes ; begs to keep 
R. Brooke a little longer. [Sir Robert Brooke, La Grande 
Abridgement, 1576]. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 30. 

14. Soho Square. 1809 Dec. 7.* Returns thanks for the loan of " a curious paper ", 

not specified. 

MS. Douce d. 21.240. 

15. Soho Square. [18 10] Apr. 13.* Mentions the occurrence of Mazer Cups in the 

Hundred Rolls ; he is informed by Dryander that Mazur in 
Swedish and Danish signifies wood that has grown into knots 
or bosses ; he has seen a chest and other objects made from 
elm-knots which were highly valued. 

MS. Douce d. 29.35-36. 

16. Soho Square. 1810 Apr. 22.* Encloses a letter from the Dean of York on Mazer 

Bowls ; he suggests that in Shakespeare's time the word had 
been corrupted into Measure. 

MS. Douce d. 22.12. 

17. Soho Square. 1810 Dec. 10.* Discusses the portion of medieval dress known as 

Cod Pisses, [Codpieces] and an analogous portion of feminine 
dress. 

MS. Douce d. 22. 33. 

18. Spring Grove. 18 13 Oct. 2.* Describes the microscopical observations of Baron 

Munchausen who claims to have found living animalcules 
in an infusion of grain, which are really Fungi ; by other 
experiments he sought to prove that the seeds of Fungi are 
" animated eggs " which produce living animalcules turning 
when dead into vegetable form ; he (B.) himself once 

HIST., 3, 2. 2§ 



50 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

assisted in experiments made by [George] Fordyce which 
aimed at demonstrating that mushrooms were " annualized 
vegetables ", but as cabbage leaves gave similar results, he 
attributed the animal element to the manure on which both 
had been raised and " this most incredible metamorphosis 
of animal into vegetable " was contradicted. 

MS. Douce d 22. 135-136 

19. Soho Square. [1816] June 16* Doubts Trandelle's proficiency in English as he 

translates Gallimenfry [Gallimawfrey] into Paste en Pot ; 
discusses the meanings of Aventoil, Attercop and Ber. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 33-34. 

20. Spring Grove. 18 16 Aug. 31* Comments on the use of the word Woe in a passage 

of Shakespeare, [Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act. ii, Sc. 4] 
and interprets it by the language of carters to their horses. 

MS. Douce d. 23. 13-14. 

21. Spring Grove. 1816 Oct. 24* Discusses the etymology and meaning of various 

words from the root Ber, Bar. 

MS. Douce d. 23. 20-21. 

22. Spring Grove. 1816 Dec. 30* Remarks on the word Sterling as applied to weights 

and to coinage and derives it from the Flemish Esterling ; 
there was early intercourse with Antwerp for which, from the 
time of King John the port was Boston, which had the 
privilege of being governed by its own officer ; the Mark as 
a division of the Pound Sterling. 

MS. Douce d. 23. 34-35. 

23. [Soho Square. 1817 Mar. 8]* Comments on a print by Tempesta representing a 

duck-decoy, [in Antonio Tempesta, 77 pHmo libbro di chacce 
di Ucelli, Rome, 4 Nov. 1598] ; it commits certain errors, 
" evidently a Poetical Licence "; the situation of the Pica- 
dilly gaming-house. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 50-51. 

24. [Soho Square. [1817] Mar. 11.* Describes a map by T. Porter in the library of 

the Society of Antiquaries showing the position of the 
Piccadilly house. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 32. 

25. Soho Square. [1817] Mar. 12.* Further remarks on decoys and on the wearing of 

ruffs in England ; the Piccadilly house was famous for a 
kind of pastry known as Puffs. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 31. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 51 

26. Soho Square. 1818 May 13* Returns thanks for the loan of his (D.'s) copy 

of Minsheu, [Guide into Tongues, 1617] with its MS. anno- 
tations which he suggests are the author's own, made in 
preparation for a new edition. 

M.S. Douce d. 23. 84. 

27. Soho Square. [1818] Sept. 11.* Sends a wooden butt to be fitted to the angling 

rod for Gudgeon-fishing ; describes its purpose and use 
whereby two fishes can sometimes be caught at one pull. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 48. 

28. Soho Square. 1818 Dec. 3* Requests permission to call upon D. to inspect his 

Chinese mythological drawings. 

MS. Douce d. 23. 112. 

29. Soho Square. 1819 Jan. 27* [Dated in error 1818] Requests the loan of D.'s 

Chinese roll as he has invited to breakfast a man well 
versed in the language who may be able to supply useful 
information concerning it. 

MS. Douce d. 23. 72. 

30. Soho Square. 18 19 June 17.* Returns a book (not named) and apologizes for 

delay in sending it. 

MS. Douce d. 23. 137. 

31. Soho Square. 18 19 July 3* Regrets he is unable to use his influence in 

promoting the appointment of D.'s friend (not named), as 
the office he seeks is purely legal and the appointment is 
made by the Treasury after consulting the Law Officers, 
and his recommendation would be impotent when opposed 
to the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, etc. ; their 
late mutual friend (not named) who previously held the 
office did not seek his (B.'s) interference, and had he done 
so, it would have been in vain " in order to prevent the 
interference of Science with Black Letter Patronage." 

MS. Douce d. 23. 143-144. 

32. Spring Grove [1819] Sept. 6.* [Not in B.'s handwriting]. Invitation from Sir 

Joseph and Lady Banks to Mr. and Mrs. Douce to dinner, 
offering to send their carriage to convey them. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 39. 

33. Soho Square [1820?] Jan. 13* Leland states that in the Act 20 Richard II that 

recalled from Ireland Belknap, [Robert de Bealknap], Holt 
and Bergh ; the three man are styled Knights of the Bath ; 
asks if this designation is correct, for if so, it is the earliest 
instance of the title K.B. ; supposed derivation of the word 
Bawdy from Baudrier. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 41. 



52 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

UNDATED LETTERS 

34. [Dated " Sunday afternoon "]* The game of Pall Mall described by Cotgrave, 

[Randle Cotgrave, French and English Dictionary, London, 
1660] ; quotes instances of a specialized use of the word 
Lightly from Tusser, Stowe and others. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 46. 

35. [Dated " Wednesday morn."]* The Greater Cursing of the Church in St. Paul's, 

Canterbury, and its mention in Ridley, [View of Civile and 
Ecclesiastical Law, 1607], also its connection with the words 
Housel and Unhouselled. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 47. 

36. [Dated " Thursday Even "].* Returns books lent and comments on the words 

Buxome and Strope ; is pleased that his citation of Cursing 
was new to D. ; sends Wilkinson's edition of Juvenal, 1641. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 56. 

37. Soho Square. [Dated " Tuesday "]* Requests the loan of D.'s Chinese roll. [See 

above, Nos. 28, 29]. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 52. 

38. [Soho Square]* He desires to see the inventory of the plate seized by the Barons 

when Piers Gaveston was imprisoned ; asks for the loan of 
books that may give information for which he sends his 
Library assistant to bring them safely. 

MS. Douce d. 29. 53. 

There are no known letters from Douce to Banks : there was none in the sale of the Banks 
correspondence in 1886, and it must therefore be supposed that Banks kept these letters on 
antiquarian subjects in a separate file and did not incorporate them with his general 
correspondence. If such a file existed, it has, like many others, been lost. 

In the present series there are 37 letters and one enclosure, considerable numbers of which 
are not dated at all, or only partially dated. Of these many can be exactly dated by internal 
and other evidence, some approximately, and others not at all. The earliest dated letter in 
the series is dated 3 Jan. 1807, but this is obviously a slip for 1808. Banks frequently makes 
such an error early in a new year, retaining the previous year-date out of habit. 

During the last years of his life when he was often confined to his chair by ill-health, Banks 
seems to have amused himself with antiquarian studies, particularly with the meaning and 
etymology of ancient and obsolete words. 

FILMER, Rev. George. 

1. Soho Square. 1794 Feb. 26.* Having been appointed rather suddenly to the 
Office of High Sheriff, he overlooked the appointment of a 
Chaplain and requests F. to undertake it in view of the 
relationship and friendship of their respective families ; the 
matter is urgent as the sermon must be preached on 9 March. 

B.M. (N.H.) Banks Con. 186. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 53 

FLINDERS, Anne, nee Chappell. (d. 1852). Wife of Matthew Flinders. 

1. Soho Square. 1804 June 9.* He is quite at a loss to conjecture the manner in 

which Capt. F. fell into the hands of the French ; from 
such papers he has seen he presumes the sequence of events 
from the time of the return of Investigator from Timor to 
Port Jackson, when the ship was condemned as unservice- 
able : Capt. F. then embarked in Porpoise intending to 
return to England, but when that ship was wrecked, he 
took passage in another bound for England, and that ship 
was seized in the Isle de France ; he hopes and expects 
that Capt. F. will be well treated and exchanged before long ; 
he is most anxious for his safety, but " his Present Misfor- 
tune is one of the calamities of war which you & I must 
bear with as much patience as we can muster." 

Pstrie <8> 

2. Soho Square. 1805 Apr. 29.* He wishes he were able to give any account of 

Capt. F., but will communicate any information he can 
obtain ; as he has succeeded in procuring the release of 
several English prisoners, he has applied for leave to ap- 
proach his scientific friends in France ; letters were accord- 
ingly sent by Prince Pignatelli who undertook to deliver 
them in Paris ; the letters were delayed in the Prince's 
baggage at Rotterdam until February and it was not until 
10 April that an answer was received ; he had almost lost 
hope through these long delays when he learned on 5 March 
that the National Institute of France had unanimously re- 
solved to make a recommendation to the Minister of Marine 
for F.'s liberation ; this has renewed hope and he will imme- 
diately communicate the result when known. 

Petrie <9> 

3. Soho Square. 1806 Aug. 6.* He has great pleasure in announcing that by a letter 

from Paris he learns that orders have been issued for the 
liberation of Capt. F. and that his arrival in England may 
be expected in due course, but it cannot be soon on account 
of the great distance ; he hopes he will obtain a passage 
in an American vessel. 

Petrie <io> 

4. Soho Square. 1806 Dec. 29.* He has obtained further information as to Capt. F. ; 

after many refusals by Bonaparte and applications made to 
him from different quarters, he at last consented to order 
Capt. F.'s case to be considered by the Council of State, 
who on 21 March ordered his liberation ; he has just seen 
Capt. [Thomas] Larkins, whose ship, the Indiaman Warren 



54 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

Hastings, was taken from him at the Isle de France, whence 
he has just arrived ; Larkins was not allowed to see Capt. F., 
but reports that he was in excellent health and has brought 
letters from him ; when L. left, no vessels from France had 
arrived, so there must be delay in giving effect to the order 
for liberation ; in the last letter he (B.) received from France 
was enclosed a copy of the order, which he sent immediately 
to the Admiralty. 

Petrie <n> 

5. Soho Square. 1807 May 22.* He regrets to hear that Capt. F., who has so long 

endured his oppression with manly fortitude, has become 
low-spirited, but hopes this is only temporary ; he is un- 
certain what opportunities the French have had of sending 
the order for liberation ; three copies were made to be for- 
warded to neutrals, but few neutrals are likely to sail from 
France to the Isle de France, and American ships usually 
sail from America to India without touching at the islands ; 
it is therefore probable that the dispatch sent by the Ad- 
miralty to Sir Edward Pellew in December, has before this 
time reached the Island, which he has reason to believe will 
be attacked by an English force, which gives hope that F. 
is, or soon will be, set free. 

Petrie <I2> 

6. Barking. 1808 Mar. 28. She has received a letter from her husband announcing 

that orders for his release have arrived last July ; tran- 
scribes an extract from Matthew F.'s letter to her, dated 
12 Aug. 1807. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439. 266. 

7. Soho Square. 1808 July 19.* He concludes that Mrs. F. has received a letter 

from her husband by way of America ; he (B.) has just 
received a letter from him stating that he is in good health, 
though no time has been fixed for his release ; the dis- 
obedience to orders by the General [de Caen] cannot be 
attributed to any other cause than cowardice ; de Caen 
suspects that Capt. F. is able to give such information to 
his brother officers in India as might enable them to attack 
the island, and is therefore resolved not to let him proceed 
to any place where he may see any of them soon ; the 
authenticity of the order is acknowledged and the reason 
given for delaying its execution is the want of an oppor- 
tunity of sending him home by a ship that will land him in 
France, and deprive him of the opportunity of instigating 
an attack upon the island ; he (B.) trusts that F. now has 
a passage home in a French frigate which may be captured 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 55 

and brought into a British port ; he has solicited Lord 
Mulgrave, as he has other Lords of Admiralty, to obtain 
for F. the rank of Post in his absence, but has always been 
answered that there is no instance of promoting an officer 
whilst a prisoner of war, but has no doubt of a favorable 
consideration for F. from Lord Mulgrave. 

Petrie <I3> 

8. Soho Square. 1810 June 12.* He wishes he could give any encouraging news of 

Capt. F. ; Government can do nothing in his favour 
" under the capricious and insolent Government of the 
Tyrant of France " ; he has left no means untried ; he sent 
word more than a year ago by a way likely to reach the ears 
of Bonaparte that nothing but the liberation of F. could 
induce him to believe that the letters received from Paris 
were not a deceit, as it seemed impossible that General de 
Caen would venture to disobey the orders of Bonaparte 
unless he had secret instructions from France ; there is 
however a hope : the trade of India has been so seriously 
injured by vessels from the Isle de France that vigorous 
measures are to be taken for seizing the Island, and if these 
succeed, we have the prospect of seeing the Capt. before 
we expect him. 

Petrie <I4> 

9. Revesby Abbey. 1810 Sept. 25.* He has the infinite satisfaction of announcing 

that Capt. F. has at last obtained his release and is expected 
in England in a few weeks and that on arrival he will im- 
mediately be made a Post Captain. 

Petrie <I5> 

10. Boston, [1810] Sept. 28.* Lest the letter he recently sent from Revesby to 

Spilsby has not yet come into Mrs. F.'s hands, he sends this 
letter to inform her that news of Capt. F.'s liberation has 
been received by the Admiralty and that he was at the 
Cape of Good Hope on his way home when the vessel that 
brought the dispatches sailed ; he adds that Mr. [Charles 
Philip] Yorke, First Lord, immediately on hearing the news 
ordered the rank of Post Captain to be given to him. 

Petrie <i6> 

FLINDERS, Matthew, (1774-1814) . Explorer and Hydrographer. (See B.L. p. 328). 

21. Soho Square. 1800 Nov. 16.* Regrets his inability to reply to F.'s letter because 

of ill-health and asks him to call at Soho Square to discuss it. 

Petrie <i> 



56 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

22. Soho Square. 1801 Feb. 19.* Congratulates F. on his appointment as commander 

of the expedition [to New Holland] ; he considers that the 
provision of the instruments necessary should be put in 
hand, but wishes to see F. before making formal application, 
as the precedent of Vancouver, who had no astronomer, 
must not be followed, but due economy must be observed ; 
hopes that F. has by this time been appointed Lieutenant. 

Petrie <2> 

23. Soho Square. 1801. May 1.* Acknowledges receipt of F.'s letter enclosing copy 

of his letter to Nepean, [Sec. of Admiralty] ; he will take 
care to modify F.'s orders as far as possible to conform to 
his wishes ; is apprehensive of great danger in tracing a 
reef on its ocean side where there is no anchorage ; the East 
India Co. have ordered £1200 to be paid to F. for his Table, 
but decline to interfere in the manner of dividing it among 
the officers ; he (B.) thinks that the officers of the Gunroom 
Mess should have the same sum as is allowed in India, and 
that the rest should be allowed to the commander as table- 
money and to those who mess with him, with an allowance 
to the gardener and miner, as the real reason of the grant is 
to encourage scientists in the discovery of things useful to 
the trade of India, and the commander to find new passages. 

Petrie <3> 

24. H.M.S. Investigator. Oct. 21. The voyage has been prosperous ; has reported 
Cape of Good Hope, fully to Admiralty and has sent meterological observations 

which he hopes will be useful to Major [James] Rennell, 
[B.L. p. 697] ; hopes to proceed early in December as soon 
as caulking is completed ; he has no news of the arrival of 
Lady Nelson at Port Jackson ; if a convict ship should 
arrive, will write to Governor King asking him to have 
Lady Nelson ready for service by next April ; fears that 
the ill-health of Crosby, [astronomer to the expedition] 
will necessitate leaving him at the Cape ; has learned that 
Porpoise is expected daily. [Received by Banks 22 Jan. 
1802. Precedes B.L. p. 328, No. 1]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439, 45-46. 

25. Soho Square. 1803 Apr. 10.* B.'s copy, in his handwriting but not signed, of 

the letter entered as B.L. p. 329, No. 4. He must have in- 
advertently sent his own file copy of the letter to Flinders, 
retaining the signed original, transcribed in D.T.C. 14.55- 
57. The copy ends with the words " I beg my dear Sir that 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 57 

you will believe me." The original adds the terminal 
formula 

Your very Faithfull 
Hble Servt 
Jos : Banks. 

Petrie <4> 

26. Isle of France. 1807 Sept. 1. Announces that his books and papers which were 

confiscated have been restored to him five weeks after the 
arrival of the order for his release ; is still without informa- 
tion as to the time and manner of his return ; is sending 
papers to Banks by way of India ; refers B. to his last letter 
to Marsden, [Secretary of the Admiralty]. [Received by 
Banks 14 July, 1809. Follows B.L. p. 332, No. 19]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439. 256. 

27. Isle of France. 1809 Feb. 28. He has seen in the Moniteur that the First Lieut. 

of Geographe claims as French the discovery of the S. coast 
of Australia from the islands of St. Peter and St. Francis to 
Bass Strait and named it Terre Napoleon ; this is an 
injustice as the discovery was British and is shown in the 
charts sent to the Admiralty ; further discussion of false 
claims to discovery by Baudin's expedition ; hopes that the 
claims will be repudiated, as he (F.) cannot do so as he is 
still unjustly kept a prisoner ; renewal of his efforts to have 
the order for his release put into effect ; has sent his letters 
by a friendly Frenchman named Desbaynes to whom he has 
given a letter of recommendation in case of his capture on 
the voyage by a British ship. [Received by Banks 25 Oct. 
1809. Follows B.L. p. 332, No. 19]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439. 281-282. 

28. Isle of France. 1809 Aug. 3. Although ships have arrived from France, no orders 

as to effecting his liberation have come ; sends this letter 
and one to the Admiralty by a French cartel conveying 
British prisoners of war to the Cape ; Baudin promised to 
deliver his (F.'s) letter to the French Marine, and asks Banks 
to support it by application to the National Institute. 
[Received by Banks 22 May 1810]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439. 294. 

29. Norfolk Hotel. 1810 Oct. 25. Announces his arrival in England ; has seen 
London. [Charles Philip] Yorke, [First Lord of the Admiralty], also 

[John Wilson] Croker and [John] Barrow, the Secretaries, 
about back-dating his promotion as promised by Lord 
Spencer, on whom he will call ; hopes to visit Banks very 
soon and relate the history of his detention and liberation. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439. 332. 



58 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

30. Revesby Abbey. 1810 Oct. 31.* Expresses his sincere satisfaction that F. has 

at last " escaped from the clutches of French Tyranny " 
and restored to his own country ; is also pleased that the 
First Lord will rate F.'s discoveries on the scale they deserve, 
and is sure that all that is consistent with the usages and 
precedents of his office will be done in F.'s favour ; he is 
returning to London on 7 November, " and long to have 
the pleasure of shaking you by the hand & congratulating 
you on your present situation & condoling the Evil you 
have endured." 

Petrie <5> 

31. 7 Mary St. 1812 Oct. 1. The Admiralty has printed and circulated in the Navy 
Fitzroy Sq. his memorandum on Magnetism in Ships ; thanks Banks 

for his assistance in printing and distributing the paper of 
which he encloses a copy ; he has also sent a copy to 
[Joseph] Cotton for the Committee of Shipping of the East 
India Co. ; is now working upon the first volume of his 
voyage and preparing the charts. 

B.M. Add. MS. 32439. 368. 

32. Spring Grove. 1813 Aug. 13.* Returns the proofs of F.'s work [Voyage to Terra 

Australis in 1801-3 in H.M.S. Investigator, London, 1814], 
he finds nothing of which he disapproves ; he thinks this 
a good beginning ensuring a good ending. 

Petrie <6> 

33. Soho Square. 1814 Apr. 27.* Approves the dedication of F.'s book and thinks 

it entirely proper ; grieves to hear of F.'s ill-health. 
[Flinders died on the very day his book was published, 19 
July 1814. The dedication was to Earl Spencer, Earl of 
St. Vincent and the Hon. Charles Philip York, who respec- 
tively held the office of First Lord of Admiralty during the 
period of Flinders's expedition, his detention and his release. 
Before publication he added Viscount Melville, who was in 
office at the time of publication.] 

Petrie <7> 

The above letters from Add. MS. 32439 belong to the series B.L. pp. 328-332, Nos. 1-20, from 
which they were inadvertently omitted owing to an error in filing the slips. 

KYD, Robert. (1746-1793). Army Officer ; Founder of the Calcutta Botanic 

Garden. (See B.L. p. 510.) 
22. Soho Square. 1792 May 10.* The original of the letter, B.L. p. 514, No. 22, 

calendared from Banks's copy at Kew, is in the Library of 
the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, 
(Leonard Lyell Album). 

Kew, B.C. 2. 60. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 59 

LENNOX, Charles, 3rd Duke of Richmond and Lennox, F.R.S. (1735-1806) 
Master — General of Ordnance. See B.L. p. 528. x 

3. Whitehall. 1786 May 31. The Duke invites B. to a public examination of some 

of the Gentlemen Cadets at Woolwich on 6 June and sub- 
sequently to dinner at the Chocolate House on Black Heath. 

Goodwood Papers, Box 29. 

4. Whitehall. 1792 Apr. 4. The Duke asks that he may be allowed to purchase 

from the Royal Society " for the use of our Survey . . . the 
scaffolding employed by the late General Roy for elevating 
the great Theodolite " ; he has desired Major [Edward] 
Williams to show B. the account he has written of the last 
year's proceedings ; asks for B.'s observations on it before 
it is copied out fair for the King. 

P.R.O. W.O. 46/21. 

LONG, Charles, (1768-1838) Statesman ; in 1820 created Baron Farnborough. 

1. Soho Square. [1818] June 8*. Informs him that he has paid to Coutts two 
subscriptions of 50 gs. each for the Ladies Statue, also the 
balance in the hands of the Committee for erecting a statue 
to the late Duke of Bedford after all expenses have been 
paid ; requests him to see that the two subscriptions be 
entered in the names of Lady Banks and Miss Banks. 

Althorp <20> 

PEARSON & LOGGAN. (See B.L. p. 659). 

3. Soho Square. 1799 Feb. 16* Sends two instruments of the Board of Longitude 

signed by the majority of members ; they are dated 13th 
instant because on the 14th a new promotion of Admirals was 
made which would have necessitated more signatures ; re- 
quests them to inform the Astronomer Royal and take his 
directions on the matter. 

Edinburgh Univ. Library. 

4. [London]. 1799 Apr. 12.* Buckton, late printer to the Board of Longitude, 

persists in delaying the printing [of the Nautical Almanac] 
still in his hands ; as the matter must be brought to a 
conclusion, instructs them to inform Buckton that his license 
will be revoked on 15 May next, and without further orders 
to serve the notice upon him on that date. [Signed also by 
Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal]. 

Edinburgh Univ. Library. 

1 The official copy of No. 2, (B.L. p. 529) is in the Public Record Office, W.O. 46/18 (Board of Ordnance, 
Master-General's Out Letters, Copies). No. 3 is in the West Sussex Record Office, in the Letter Book of 
the 3rd Duke, and No. 4 is in the same file as No. 2. 



6o SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

POLLOCK, Sir Jonathan Frederick. (1783-1870) Barrister, later Judge. 

1. Soho Square. 1814 Apl. 16.* He has seen Lord Sidmouth who gave a friendly 

reception and proposed that the matter be referred to his 
confidential, not official, lawyers ; he informed Lord Sid- 
mouth that he wished P. to have an opportunity of communi- 
cating with his advisers which he concludes will be done ; 
asks to be kept informed. 

B.M. Add. MS. 43728. 3. 

There is no clue as to the matter here referred to. The letter is addressed " Frederic 
Pollock Esq 18 Sergeants inn, Fleet Street." 

RAIMBACH, Abraham. (1776-1843) Engraver. (See B.L. p. 693.) 

2. Soho Square. 1803 May 16.* Directions for lettering ticket for the Ball of the 

Knights of the Bath to be held at Ranelagh ; George Nicol 
[B.L. p. 639, No. 22] will begin printing on Friday, [May 20]. 
[The original is in New York Public Library, Duyckinck Coll.] 

This letter is in reply to that of Raimbach of even date. (B.L. p. 693, No. 1). 

RAMPASSE, Joseph (fl. 1805-1816) Geologist. (See B.L. p. 693.) 

3. Soho Square. 1816 Jan. 25.* The delay in answering R.'s letter is due to the 

Trustees of the British Museum not yet having considered it ; 
the cases have been unpacked and the officer, [Charles Konig], 
whose duty it is to report has found a variety of Porphyry 
superior to any now in the Museum, but the iron ores, etc., do 
^ not appear to him so interesting ; report will be made to the 
Trustees at their next meeting, but it may not then be con- 
sidered owing to much other business ; vases executed in this 
porphyry would not be saleable to collectors who admire 
antiques but not modern productions. [Precedes B.L. No. 1] 

B.M. Add. MS. 42579, 525-526. 

SPENCER, George John, 2nd Earl Spencer, F.R.S. (1758-1834) Statesman and 
Bibliophile. (See B.L. p. 7J7). 

8. Soho Square. 1790 Mar. 31* Returns thanks for the gift of a manuscript leaf of 

Pliny. 

Althorp <i> 

9. Soho Square. 1791 Mar. 21* Expresses pleasure that the book (not named) that 

he sent is acceptable to the Althorp Library ; Lord S. having 
offered in exchange the Aldus Dioscorides of 1489, states that 
as the cost of his gift was trifling he wishes for no return. 

Althorp <2> 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 61 

io. Soho Square. 1791 June 1.* Invites Lord S. to dine with him and a party of 
literary friends amongst whom is Sir William Hamilton who 
has provided a Sumen from Naples ; quotes Martial, Plautus 
and Pliny on Sumen. 

Althorp <3> 

n. Soho Square. [1797 Nov. 12]* Acknowledges a paper by Dr. Delia Lena which 
he considers "a most arrant Quack advertisement"; en- 
closes his reply to the author to be sealed and dispatched if 
approved. 

Althorp <4> 

12. Soho Square. 1799 May 6* Lord Bessborough is to replace Lord S. as a manager 

of the Royal Institution, but requests the latter to continue 
until the Charter is sealed, after which Lord Winchilsea will 
also be elected ; the Institution prospers in finance and in 
increased membership and the purchase of the house is 
assured ; Count Rumford " has of late kept himself intirely 
in the background." 

Althorp <5> 

13. Soho Square. 1799 May 9.* Acknowledges draft for £50, Lord S.'s subscription 

to the R. Institution ; Hoppner the painter has been proposed 
by Lord Ossory and seconded by Lord Macartney as a 
member of The Club, to represent Art like Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds ; anticipates much opposition. 

Althorp <6> 

14. Soho Square. 1800 Dec. 14.* It has been resolved by the Trustees of the British 

Museum that the meetings of the Standing Committee shall 
in future be held at two o'clock instead of at twelve ; he is 
about to recommend Ferdinand Bauer as Botanical Painter 
to the expedition [of Matthew Flinders] as the post has been 
declined by Alexander because of his wife's health. 

Althorp <7> 

15. Soho Square. 1802 Apr. 1.* Invites Lord S. to attend a meeting in B.'s house to 

consider a memorial to the late Duke of Bedford. [Lord S.'s 
reply is in B.L. p. 778, No. 4]. 

Althorp <8> 

16. [Soho Square. 1802 Dec. 13].* Sends a journal of the voyage of the French 

Expedition ; from this it appears that Baudin is too cautious 
in approaching the shore to make a good navigator, and the 
commander of the Naturaliste too little inclined to keep 
company to give the principal much assistance. 

Althorp <9> 



62 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

17. Soho Square. 1804 Mar. 21.* Presents a collection of Canal plans to add to those 

already in Lord S.'s possession. 

Althorp <io> 

18. Soho Square. 1806 May 18* On visiting the Transport Office, he finds that Capt. 

Milius has obtained his passport and has written to inform 
him of his good fortune [See B.L. p. 611, No. 3] ; Milius was 
on board the discovery ships on the coast of New Holland ; 
he wishes to obtain the release of the Rev. Mr. Egerton 1 ; 
asks for an appointment to discuss the matter. 

Althorp <2i> 

19. Office for Trade. [1806 Nov. 24]* Asks for appointment forinterview. [Endorsed 

by Lord S. " Appointed him for tomorrow at I2|."] 

Althorp <25> 

20. Soho Square. 1808 May 16. Returns the Act of Parliament [relating to the trade 

in hides and leather], but does not approve all of its provisions, 
especially those estabhshing a severe code of penalties on one 
class of persons for the benefit of another ; the conflict 
between the butchers and bootmakers ; the former have no 
direct access to legislators whilst the latter, in supplying them 
with fashionable boots, can justify their increased charges. 

Althorp <n> 

21. Soho Square. 1809 July 31*. Sends particulars of the sale of the King's sheep 

[on 26 July] ; 40 rams and 60 ewes fetched £3998 in all ; 
average maximum prices paid ; absence of those who attended 
the Duke of Bedford's Sheep-Shearing ; has secured some of 
the best sheep for Lord S., whose bailiff, [Thomas Vialls] 
made the choice ; hears that 1500 more sheep have arrived in 
bad condition, they are part of the flock procured by Coch- 
rane Johnston, [see B.L. 477], namely 12,000 sheep in all — 
4,000 for the King and 8,000 for himself ; understands they 
will be landed to-day and put in St. James's Park ; Lord 
Camden wished to buy a ram with a price-limit of 20 gs., but 
none was sold for less than 25 gs. 

Althorp <I2> 

22. Soho Square. 1809 Sept. 2* Regrets he is unable at present to allot any sheep as 

the ewes are heavy with lamb ; will do his best when the 
time for distribution arrives ; the next importation is at 
Seville and he is requesting the transports to embark them 
at St. Lucar, which saves driving them nearly 100 miles. 

Althorp <I3> 

1 Probably the Rev. John Egerton (1749-1825) who succeeded in 1825 as 9th Baronet. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 63 

23. Soho Square. 1810 June 17.* Returns thanks for Lord S.'s generous contribution 

to the fund for the family of [George] Gilpin, [clerk to the 
Royal Society who died in 1810] ; the main flock of Merino 
sheep, at least 3,000 in number, has not fallen into the hands 
of the French ; the Treasury has advanced £600 for their 
keep ; hopes soon to receive a supply and will then be able to 
replenish Lord S.'s flock ; at Lord Holland's sale an ewe and 
lamb sold for 98 gs., and a ram has been let for the season for 
142 gs., and another for 107 gs. 

Althorp <I4> 

24. Soho Square. 1811 Feb. 12* The arrival of a cargo of the King's Merino sheep 

renders it necessary to collect a rate on those already delivered, 
to repay the sum advanced by the Treasury ; applies for 
£15. 18. for six sheep at £2. 13. per head. [Printed fac- 
simile of B.'s handwriting with blanks for the date and sums 
of money which are inserted in ink.] 

Althorp <I5> 

25. Soho Square. 181 1 Feb. 13* He has corrected the mistake in the account ; is 

now less fettered than formerly and hopes to restore Lord S.'s 
flock to its original state ; has just received another flock 
from Spain, but all except five were rams ; hopes to meet 
Lord S. at the Committee at the British Museum. 

Althorp <i6> 

26. Soho Square. 1812 June 29* Recommends his friend Dr. [William Henry] 

Fitton who is about to set up in medical practice in Northamp- 
ton. 

Althorp <I7> 

27. [Soho Square. 1814 Mar. 18]* Dr. Tiarks has finished his abstract of the contents 

of " your Lordship's curious Black Letter "; the document 
is Letters Patent from Maximilian to all his archbishops and 
bishops empowering them to confer a badge on all ranks and 
admit them into the Order of Crowned Knights who are to 
make a Crusade against the Turks then pressing on the 
frontiers of Hungary ; the Order is otherwise totally un- 
known ; suggests that Dr. Tiarks should call and explain this 
precious book which is of great rarity, unknown to scholars 
and nowhere quoted. 

Althorp <i8>. 

28. Soho Square. 1815 July 14* Returns thanks for the gift of the 4th volume of 

Lord S.'s Library Catalogue. [Bibliotheca Spenceriana, by 
Thomas Frognal Dibdin, 4 vols., 1814-1815]. 

Althorp <I9>. 



6 4 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

The Correspondence of the second Earl Spencer is preserved in the Muniment Room at 
Althorp. The present Earl has kindly permitted copies to be made. Most of the letters here 
summarized are in the files of correspondence during his period of office as First Lord of the 
Admiralty, 1794-1801, The remainder are from the files for his period of office as Home 
Secretary, 1 806-1 807. The letters are not numbered, but for convenience of reference, 
numbers in angular brackets have been assigned to them. 

Althorp <22> is the original of B.L. p. 778, No. 5 calendared from D.T.C. 16, 312-313; 
No. <23> is a clerk's copy of B.L. p. 581, No. 20 ; No. <2 4 > is the original of B.L. p. 778, 
No. 7 from D.T.C. 16. 317. 

THORNTON, William (1759-1828) Physician. 

2. Soho Square. 1786 Mar. 31* Returns thanks for the gift of a mineral ; sends 

seeds of Alexandrian Senna as desired ; hopes that T. will be 
successful in raising the plants to supply the London market 
which is now dependent on foreigners. 

This letter is the reply to that in B.L. p. 818, No. 1 which I have wrongly attributed to 
Robert John Thornton, and the heading should be corrected as above. This Dr. Thornton 
is William, and his correspondence and papers are in the Library of Congress, Washington, 
from Vol. 1 of which the above letter is abstracted. It is addressed to " Dr. William Thorn- 
ton, Tortola, West Indies," and is endorsed " Rec d June 25th 1786." The date in B.L. No. 1 
should be corrected from [1796 ?] to [1786]. 

William Thornton was born in Tortola, lived most of his life and died there. He came to 
Scotland in 1782 and graduated M.D. at Aberdeen 23 Nov. 1784, returning to Tortola early 
in 1786. His papers include his diaries from 1777 to 1782 and 17 vols., of correspondence, 
chiefly with men of science. 

TURNER, Dawson, F.R.S. (1775-1858). Banker, Botanist and Antiquary. (See 
B.L. p. 834-) 

3. Soho Square. 1800 Dec. 6* Returns thanks for the gift of a keg of herrings ; 

offers the free use of his library as it at all times gives pleasure 
to himself and to Dryander to provide every facility for 
students of Natural History. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 1. 157 

4. Soho Square. 1801 Dec. 3.* He has been expecting [Lewis Weston] Dillwyn to 

look over the Fuci in his Herbarium on Turner's behalf ; he 
is pleased to hear that T. is undertaking to write an account 
of the British species, [Synopsis of British Fuci , 2 vols., 1802] ; 
he hopes the Linnean Society will soon obtain its charter, 
but the legal delay has caused the loss of William Pulteney's 
Legacy to the Society which was conditional on its incor- 
poration. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 1. 208. 

5. Soho Square. 1802 Jan. 25* He considers T.'s proficiency in Botany entitles him 

to election to the Royal Society ; explains the procedure for 
candidature and invites T. to Soho Square when he will 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 65 

introduce him to Fellows of the R.S. who have similar 
pursuits ; it is not customary for the President to sign the 
certificates of candidates. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 6. 

6. Soho Square. 1802 May 13.* Returns thanks for the gift of T.'s book, [Synopsis, 

see No. 4] and for the specimens sent with it which are new to 
his Herbarium ; asks T. for the names of those of his friends, 
who will support his candidature at the Royal Society. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 25. 

7. Soho Square. 1802 May 20.* He has seen T's friends and has obtained the 

signatures on his certificate of Sir Thomas Cullum, Major 
Rennell, Charles Greville and Dr. Maton. [Turner was elected 
F.R.S. 9 Dec. 1802]. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 21. 

8. Soho Square. 1803 Jan. 12* Returns thanks for the gift of Christmas parcel ; 

urges him to keep his (B.'s) specimens of Fuci as long as he 
needs them ; he has received a seaweed from China which on 
analysis proves to consist wholly of starch and promises to 
provide specimens ; he has been confined to his room for 
seven weeks. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 117. 

9. Soho Square. 1803 Feb. 7* Returns thanks for the gift of two Brent Geese which 

were excellent eating ; comments on the matrimonial affairs 
of " our old Friend the General ", [Charles Vallancey] ; 
Wilford has been elected a Foreign Member of the French 
Institute. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 135. 

10. Soho Square. 1803 Mar. 26.* He has sent specimens of Fucus and Viva to T. by 

the Yarmouth coach ; begs him to retain them as he will not 
require their return before Christmas ; gives him permission 
to keep all duplicates for himself. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 149. 

11. Soho Square. 1803 May 1.* Returns thanks for the gift of a copy of T.'s Synopsis 

bound by [John Dawson] Downes of Yarmouth and of T.'s 
reprint of John Ives's work, [Remarks on the Garianonum of 
the Romans, 1803] ; comments on an ancient map in the 
archives of Yarmouth Corporation ; adverse criticism of 
[Charles] Vallancey's etymologies. [See B.L. p. 834, No. 1]. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 165. 

12. Soho Square. 1803 July 28.* In spite of the conduct of the French, he asks T.'s 

assistance, in the interests of science, in procuring the release 
of the copper plates belonging to Pieter Camper's son which 



66 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

were captured at sea [by a Yarmouth vessel] ; if the captors 
are inclined to negotiate, he will advance the money for any 
reasonable price agreed upon and send the plates to France 
by a neutral ship. [See B.L. p. 323, No. 20.] 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 193. 

13. Soho Square. 1803 Aug. 13* Thanks T. for his assistance in the matter of the 

captured plates ; is pleased that Mr. Friday is handling the 
matter so that no further interference by T. or himself is 
necessary. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 2. 199. 

14. Soho Square. 1805 Jan. 2* [Dated in error 1804]. There is no rule in the conduct 

of his library that prevents the borrowing of books ; he is 
sending a parcel containing those asked for by T. ; returns 
thanks for specimens of Roth's plants, a useful addition to 
his Herbarium ; he will be pleased to receive T.'s cousin and 
to show him every civility. [This is the reply to B.L. p. 834, 
No. 2]. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 3. 91. 

15. Soho Square. [1805 Feb. — ]* Sends specimens of a Chinese Ulva which when 

dissolved in warm water makes a paste or glue ; he thinks 
this property worth exploiting to save the expense and waste of 
wheat-flour used in the manufacture of paste ; he believes this 
to be the only gelatine of vegetable origin. [Many red Algae 
have the property of producing agar when dissolved in water, 
which can be used as a glue : the specimen here referred to is 
probably a species of Gelidium or of Gracilaria] ; he has 
hopes of the recovery of the King. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 3. 109. 

16. Soho Square. 1806 May 2.* Assures T. that he may keep the specimens of Fuci, 

LTvae and Confervae from his Herbarium as long as he 
requires them ; he rejoices that a bookseller, [Messrs. John 
and Arthur Arch], has been found to undertake the publica- 
tion of T.'s large work on Fuci. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 4. 61. 

17. Soho Square. 1806 June 28.* Regrets that owing to an attack of gout he was 

unable to go to Holkham ; [Franz Andreas] Bauer is now 
investigating and painting diseases in corn, [MS. at Kew : 
Diseases of Cereals] ; when this work is finished Bauer may 
be induced to take up Fuci if specimens can be sent to him 
in salt water. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 4. 88. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OE SIR JOSEPH BANKS 67 

18. Soho Square. 1811 Feb. 20.* The death of the Astronomer Royal, [The Rev. 

Nevil Maskelyne] and the appointment of his successor has 
occupied much of his time ; discusses netting for protecting 
fruit-trees, etc., and thinks that fishing nets no longer fit for 
use at sea could be repaired for garden use, and that old 
women could make a comfortable living in this way. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 9. 10. 

19. Soho Square. 181 1 Mar. 31.* Thanks T. for his efforts in procuring the netting 

which suits his purpose well ; discusses the etymology of 
Cockile, derived from a Teutonic word ; the Dutch formerly 
came to Norfolk and kept retail shops for the sale of Lent 
wares and fish ; he quotes Thomas Tusser [Hundreth Goode 
Pointes in Husbandrie, 1557] ; he has received Hooker's book 
on Iceland but thinks that H.'s recollections of the Revolution 
are at fault, and that there is too much Botany for a general 
reader and not enough for botanists ; he has received plates 
of H.'s Jungermanniae, [finished and published in 1816] which 
he commends ; he has advised H. to give up his intention of 
going to Ceylon ; he has seen little of Gerard, [F. Giraud, 
See B.L. p. 358] who has come to England to obtain a Patent 
invented by another man for a method of preserving meat. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 9. 24. 

20. Soho Square. 181 1 Dec. 19.* Returns thanks for the gift of a palatable dish, 

(not named) ; description of a vegetable called by Americans 
and West Indians " Squash ", [Cucurbita moschata] ; he has 
advised Hooker to insert a map of Iceland in his new edition, 
especially as Sir G. M. [Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, Travels 
in Iceland, 1811] has omitted to do so, [cf. B.L. p. 422, No. 
10] ; a copy of Acharius's work, [Lichenographia, 1810] is in 
the hands of [George Jasper] Lyon who would probably lend 
it to Borrer ; asks T. to convey to Mrs. Merry, [Elizabeth, 
wife of Anthony Merry, then Envoy to U.S.A.], his thanks 
for articles sent from North America. 1 

T.C.C. O. 13. 9. 59- 

21. Soho Square. 1814 Jan. 10.* He is in good health " legs excepted"; he has 

been so long deprived of the use of them as to have no regrets ; 
gout returns less frequently and is dispelled by Eau Medicin- 
ale ; he has entertained T.s' friend, Mr. Taylor ; hopes for the 
return of peace and the renewal of correspondence with 
foreign friends ; sends greetings to Hooker whom he suspects 
to be contemplating marriage. [Hooker married in 1815 T.'s 
eldest daughter]. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 11. 5- 

1 See B.L. p. 608 and insert the dates of Anthony Merry, (i755- l8 35)- 



68 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

22. Soho Square. 1817 May 4.* Laver, Dutsh and Tangle, edible seaweeds, are used 

by the Scots and Irish ; he thinks that many other species 
might make a useful aliment if suitably prepared and suggests 
experimenting with Common Sea-wrack simmered for 30 
hours. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 13. 61. 

23. Soho Square. 1817 July 16.* Returns thanks for an abnormal shilling which has 

been placed in his sister's coin collection ; he will enquire 
about it at the Mint, ; acknowledges a script in an unknown 
character which he has placed in the hands of [Sir Charles] 
Wilkins the Sanscrit scholar ; laments the misfortunes of 
Dr. Able, [Clarke Abel] in China and the loss of his collections. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 14. 13. 

24. Soho Square. [1817] July 26.* He recommended Dr. [Joseph] Arnold to Sir 

Thomas [Stamford] Raffles as a suitable person to proceed to 
Sumatra ; the amount of his emolument is not settled as the 
Chairman [of the East India Co., John Bebb,] wished to fix 
a salary, but Raffles prefers to have the power to remunerate 
him according to his services ; he thinks that [George] 
Psalmanazar's History of Formosa, [1704], might throw light 
on the unknown script ; mentions Charles Vallancey, whom 
he has missed " since he set out on his journey to Kingdom 
Come," [he died in 1812] ; Dr. Sickler 1 has been brought to 
England to unroll the Herculaneum Papyri ; though his 
first attempts were not successful, he wishes him better 
fortune in his further efforts. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 14. 24. 

25. Soho Square. 1817 Nov. 29.* Returns thanks for gift of herrings ; he has had a 

kind of red herring procured from Canterbury ; mentions the 
decrease in the ice on the coast of Greenland, [see B.L. p. 739, 
Nos. 4-6], and hopes this will have a beneficial effect on the 
English climate ; he thinks it probable that ships will be 
fitted out to seek the N.W. passage. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 14. 125. 

26. Soho Square. 1819 Sept. 21* Returns thanks for gift of herrings ; his health has 

improved after suffering from jaundice for three months dur- 
ing which time there was no return of gout, but it came on 
afterwards and was cured in one night by taking Colchicum ; 
he has just obtained from Denmark a book on Fuci and fresh- 
water Cryptogams which he now presents to T. as he had 

1 Dr. Friederich Carl Ludwig Sickler, (1773-1836) a German archaeologist, was engaged to treat, by 
chemical methods, some of the 18 rolls presented to the Prince Regent. In the course of his experiments 
seven rolls were completely destroyed. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 69 

received a second copy as a gift. [The book is Tentamen 
Hydrophytologiae Danicae, by Hans Christian Lyngbye, 
Hafniae, 1819]. 

T.C.C. O. 13. 19. 73. 

The foregoing letters from part of the Dawson Turner correspondence, bound in order of 
date in 82 volumes, presented to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1891 by his last surviving 
daughter, Eleanor Jane (1811-1893), widow of Dr. William Jacobson, Bishop of Chester. 

During the period covered by the present letters, 1800 to 1 819, Turner's principal interest 
was Botany, and he was then at work, first, on his Synopsis of British Fuci, (1802) and then 
on his large monograph, Fuci, in 4 vols., quarto, to aid in which Banks placed the specimens 
in his own Herbarium at Turner's disposal and sent them to his house in Yarmouth where 
they were retained for some years and eventually returned to Soho Square. 

The volumes of Turner Correspondence are not numbered ; the references are accordingly 
to the press-marks, with the serial number of each letter in the respective volumes. 

VINCENT, Very Rev. William (1729-1815) Dean of Westminster. 
1. Soho Square. 1804 Mar. 7.* Returns thanks for the loan of a memoir on the 
ancient map preserved in the church of San Michele, Murano ; 
he doubts the position of Cape Diab, but concludes that as 
the Portugese were exploring the western coast of Africa 
during the second half of the 15th century, the latitude of 
the cape will afford a clue as to the date of the map. 

Blofield Coll. 1 

The map referred to is the circular map of the world by Fra Mauro, completed in 1459, for many 
years kept in the Church of San Michele but now in the Biblioteca Marciana. The memoir is that of 
Placido Zurla, entitled II Mappamondo di Fra Mauro camaldolese, Venice, 1806. The Dean of 
Westminster evidently had the proofs or an advance copy of the work, which he lent to Banks. 
The map shows an open sea passage to the south of Africa, with a large island called Diab approxi- 
mately in the position of Madagascar. I am indebted to R. A. Skelton, Esq., Keeper of the Map 
Room, B.M., for this information. 

WEDDERBURN, Alexander, Baron Loughborough, afterwards first Earl of 
Rosslyn. (1733-1805). Lord Chancellor. (See B.L. p. 862.) 

3. [London]. 1794 Mar. 2. Offers to Banks the disposal of the benefice of Barrow- 

on-Humber, but stipulates that residence is a condition ; 
relies on B.'s good judgement in the choice of a Vicar, 
especially now that he holds the Office of High Sheriff. 

B.M. (N.H.) Banks Corr. 187. 

4. [Soho Square]. 1794 Mar. 3.* Returns thanks for the offer made and agrees that 

whenever possible it is proper to enforce residence ; in the 
present case, however, he had intended to nominate the Rev. 
Caley [Cayley] Illingworth, but which he cannot do if the 
condition is unalterable as he resides on his living of Scampton, 

1 An album of autograph letters brought together by two or more generations of the family of T R. C. 
Blofield, Esq., of Hoveton House, Wroxham, Norfolk. A. N. L. Munby Esq., Librarian of King's College, 
Cambridge, kindly obtained for me a photograph of the letter. 

This letter is in the third person, and the Dean is not named. 



70 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

25 miles south of Barrow ; in a case of plurality, if Lord L. 
is satisfied if the incumbent resides on one of the livings, 
Illingworth will be unexceptionable. 

B.M. (N.H.) Banks Corr. 188. 

The Rev. Cayley Illingworth (1758-1823) was of Pembroke College, Cambridge, M.A., 
D.D.; Rector of Scampton and afterwards Archdeacon of Stowe. He was an antiquary, 
and published A ccount of the Parish of Scampton in the County of Lincoln and of the Roman 
Antiquities discovered there, 1808. 




PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY 
ADLARD AND SON, LIMITED 
BARTHOLOMEW PRESS, DORKING 









SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



SECOND SERIES 



Edited by WARREN R. DAWSON 



BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 
HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 3 

LONDON: 1965 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

SECOND SERIES 




Edited by WARREN R. DAWSON 



Pp. 71-93 



BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 
HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 3 

LONDON: 1965 



THE BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

(NATURAL history), instituted in 1949, is 
issued in five series corresponding to the Departments 
of the Museum, and an Historical series. 

Parts will appear at irregular intervals as they become 
ready. Volumes will contain about three or four 
hundred pages, and will not necessarily be completed 
within one calendar year. 

This paper is Vol. 3, No. 3 of the Historical 
series. 



Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) 1965 



TRUSTEES OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

Issued September 1965 Price Nine Shillings 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

Second Series 
Edited by WARREN R. DAWSON 

FOREWORD 

In this Bulletin, Historical Series, Vol. 3, No 2, (1962), 139 letters were calendared 
additional to those in the main work, The Banks Letters, published by order of the 
Trustees in 1958. In the present part 64 further letters are presented. Most of 
these are contained in a collection of miscellaneous papers relating to Sir Joseph 
Banks which was acquired by the Department of Manuscripts of the British Museum 
in 1963, and numbered Add. MS. 52281. To these are added a few letters from other 
sources. 

The method of presentation is the same as that of The Banks Letters, but as in the 
First Supplement, explanatory notes have been added where necessary. The letters 
from writers whose names already occur in the original work and /or in the first 
Supplement, are numbered consecutively with those already calendared, and as 
before, letters written by Banks himself are marked with an asterisk. 

ASTLE, Thomas, F.R.S. (1735-1803) Keeper of Records, Tower of London. 

1. Soho Square, 1802 Aug. 19.* He has great respect for Dr. Marcet and happy to 
be useful to him ; in the present case, as the Governors of 
Guy's Hospital make their own decisions as to vacancies on 
the staff, no opposition is likely. 

B.M. {N.H.).-\ 

Alexander John Gaspard Marcet, M.D., F.R.S. , (1770-1822) was a candidate for the post 
of Physician to Guy's Hospital, and his friend Astle had asked for B.'s support to meet any 
opposition there might be. Marcet was duly appointed. 

BAILEY, Francis. (Of Newbury, Berkshire) 

1. Soho Square 1799 June 11.* States that there is little likelihood of any 

person being engaged by the African Association, the funds 
of which are limited and will not admit of more than one 
person at a time being employed, and there is at present 
one explorer in Africa ; reminds the applicant that he has 

f Inserted in a copy of Edward Smith's Life of Banks. An account of this book and of the documents 
inserted in it, was published by Dr. Averil Lysaght in Journ. Soc. Bibl. Nat. Hist., Vol. 4, pt. 4 (1964), 
pp. 206-209. Edward Smith, published his book in 191 1, and died at Whitstable, 13 Dec. 1919 in his 81st 
year. 



74 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

given no account of his qualifications and experience ; 
advises him to read Mungo Park's book from which he 
will learn the qualities and acquirements necessary to an 
explorer in Africa. 

Bodleian, MS. Autogr. d. 14. 2. 

It is not known if Bailey renewed his application and furnished particulars of his 
qualifications. He was never employed by the African Association. 

BAUER, Franz Andreas, (1758-1840) Botanical Artist. (See B.L. p. 40). 

3. Kew. 1813 Aug. 31. Declaration signed by Bauer that all the drawings 

he has made are the property of B. from whom he has received 
an annual salary ; he further declares that all future drawings 
he shall make during the continuance of the salary shall 
likewise be the property of B. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 107. 

BRACKENBURY, Joseph (1753-1811). Clerk of the Peace for Lindsey (See 
B.L. p. 149). 

4. Spilsby 1792 June 4. Sends by command of the Duke of Ancaster a copy 

of the printed Proclamation, dated 21 May, 1792, against 
seditious propaganda. 

B. B.Add. MS. 52281. 13. 

The heading of the entry in B.L. 149 is to be amended as above. 

BROUSSONET, Pierre Marie Auguste, F.R.S. (1764-1807) Botanist. (See 
B.L.. p. 155). 

134. Soho Square. [1789] May I.* At yesterday's meeting of the Royal Society, 

the following were elected Foreign members : [Claude 
Louis] Berthollet, [Pierre Simon, Marquis de] Laplace, 
[Jean Dominique, Comte de] Cassini, [Adrien Marie] Le 
Gendre, and [Pierre Francois Andre] Mechain ; [Antoine, 
Baron] Portal had too many black balls, and if he means to 
succeed, he must apply again at a future date ; some felons 
have refused pardons granted on condition of their settling 
in Australia, as they seem to prefer death to banishment ; 
the ship bringing curiosities for B. has not yet arrived, but 
when it does so, he will send Br. a Kangaroo. [Follows 
B.L. No 86]. 

St. Andrew's University, Chemical Dept. 
Miscellaneous MSS.f 

I Formerly the property of the late Professor John Read, F.R.S, 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 75 

BUGGE, Thomas, F.R.S. (1740-1815). Astronomer. (See B.L. p. 183). 

17. Copenhagen. 1812 May 12. Regrets the long interruption of his correspon- 
dence, due to the war, for which he blames the English 
Ministers ; the bombardment of the Danish capital caused 
great damage to the University and the Cathedral ; his 
own house was burned to the ground and the whole of his 
library of 8000 volumes was destroyed ; his family for- 
tunately escaped injury ; a young pupil of his, Lieut. 
Wormskiold, well versed in botany and astronomy, has 
made a scientific expedition to Greenland ; asks for B.'s 
intervention to save his observations and collections, as 
B. is regarded as the tutelary deity of Iceland, and he hopes 
of Greenland also ; the collections have been landed at 
Leith and he begs B. to recover them and house them in 
his library ; the Observatory luckily suffered little damage. 
[French]. 

Bodleian. MS. Eng. Hist. d. 150. 89-90. 

CARTWRIGHT, John. (1740-1824). Political Reformer. 

I. Brothertoft 1799 Sept. 19. Thanks B. for terminating their previous inter- 
course " which it seems was no longer likely to have been 
cordial " ; states his political opinions and his differences 
with B. [Written in the third person]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 27. 

CHISLETT, John. (d. 1793). Surgeon. 

1. Horncastle. 1792 Dec. 13. Asks B. to nominate the clergyman to preach the 
Anniversary Sermon for the [Medical] Charity ; [Thomas] 
Paine's adherents in the County are not numerous but are 
very audacious and have circulated inflammatory literature ; 
the farmers on market-days have given loyal toasts in con- 
sequence of the affrays which have occurred in public houses ; 
in one of these, a loyalist received a blow and soon after 
died ; the post-mortem, however, revealed a pre-existing 
state of gangrene which was the cause of death and the 
Jury's verdict was death from natural causes ; at Boston 
there are disaffected persons and the singing of " God Save 
the King " was greeted with hisses ; many labourers want a 
disturbance that they may commit depredations ; he hopes 
that Government and the Magistrates will be active and 
inflict condign punishment ; applies for the tenancy of two 
of B.'s closes which will soon become vacant. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 14-15. 



76 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

CLARK, Richard. (1739-1831). Chamberlain of the City of London. 

1. Spring Grove. 1813 Oct. 3.* Discusses the claim of the Lord Mayor of London 
to take the place of the Heir Apparent to the Crown within 
the jurisdiction of the City, which was asserted at the funeral 
of Lord Nelson, and admitted pro hac vice ; he has searched 
for precedents of the rank in which the Lord Mayor has been 
anciently placed in processions, funerals, etc. ; he finds that 
the Lord Mayor is always placed by the side of Garter King of 
Arms, between the convoy and the procession ; he finds also 
that the Lord Mayor always carries what is called the City 
Sceptre, a small mace ; asks whether this article is preserved 
amongst the regalia of the City, or whether the Lord Mayor 
when proceeding with Garter King carries the full-sized mace 
upon his shoulder. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 130. 

The Lord Mayor in 1805 was Sir James Shaw, Bart. (1764-1843). This letter is a copy in 
the handwriting of Sarah Sophia Banks amongst a number of documents copied by her on 
the same subject, (ff. 123-13 1 vo). Orders and precedents were subjects in which B. and his 
sister were greatly interested. 

COLE, William. (See B.L. p. 223). 

2 Gosport. 1803 June n. Presents the bearer of this letter, [Louis Auguste] 

Deschamps ; he has secured his release with the assistance 
of the Rev. Mr. [Richard] Bingham, a magistrate of Gosport ; 
Mr. Bingham has subjoined a passport for the convenience of 
Deschamps. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 71 vo. 

3. Gosport 1803 June 14. He has just returned from the Custom House and 

the Prize Agents ; from the latter he has permission to hand 
over to Deschamps all the natural history collections with 
the rest of his (D.'s) property ; he has been instructed to 
lodge the articles in the Custom House until further orders, 
when they will permit them to be sent to the Custom House 
in London to be searched ; he will go on board L' Union to 
arrange their landing ; asks for an Order in Council for the 
landing and storing. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 36. 

4. Gosport 1803 June 16. He has visited the Custom House and found there 

two trunks belonging to Deschamps containing wearing 
apparel ; he has purchased two padlocks to secure them and 
encloses the keys ; the trunks will be in London in a few 
days. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 72. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 77 

5. Gosport. 1803 June 17. He has visited the French ship to examine the 

property of Deschamps ; it consists principally of books, 
with some parcels of plants, shells, insects, etc. ; the 
Hortus Siccus is much damaged and many specimens 
destroyed ; these articles are to be lodged in the Custom 
House ; a small box of lilies will be sent to B. by the 
wagon ; the Colonel who was a passenger on the ship gave 
him some substances said to be gold and silver, and a bottle 
containing scorpions which he sends to B. for his own 
collection ; Capt. Hamelin presented him with a living 
parrot which also he proposes to send to B. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281, 35. 

6. Gosport. 1803 July 5. Acknowledges B.'s letter about the missing trunks, 

[see infra, MACLEAN, W. No. 3] ; encloses note from the 
Officer of the Custom House. [The enclosed note, undated 
and signed Wm. NORRIS, states that two trunks were sent 
on 17 June addressed to the Warehouse Keeper for the 
Crown, E. I. Baggage Warehouse, St. Helen's London, and 
that two others remain, awaiting orders, f 40]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281, 38. 

7. Gosport. 1803 July 20. Informs B. that the greater part of the packages 

[of Deschamps] will be sent by the Portsmouth wagon to the 
warehouse in London, the remainder to follow in due course. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 45. 

8. Soho Square. 1803 July 28*. He has had notice of the reception of 4 cases and 

2 chests belonging to Deschamps at the London warehouse ; 
Government appear to be pleased at the liberality of the 
captors, and will pay for any part of the goods that may have 
been thought of value sufficient to detain them for the 
benefit of the crew, in order that they may be sent gratis to 
Deschamps ; requests Cole to enquire if any further articles 
relating to Natural History or Science remain on board, 
particularly drawings ; returns sincere thanks to Cole for 
his handsome assistance, and requests him to render thanks 
to the captors and their agents for their liberal and generous 
conduct, which does honour to the British name and to 
science. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 47. 

9. Gosport. 1803 Aug. 2. On his return from Essex, he was pleased to learn 

that the goods of Deschamps have arrived ; by an error, 



78 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

some Frenchmen on parole at Bishop's Walton have taken 
two or three chests with them, an error that can easily be 
rectified ; the captors have acted with great liberality ; he 
much values B.'s appreciation of his services ; he is engaged 
in raising a Defence Corps and has purchased suitable 
publications for distribution. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 50-51. 

10. Gosport. 1803 Aug. 16. Encloses the keys of Deschamps's trunks, sent 

from Bishop's Walton via Winchester ; he has been active 
in raising a Defence Corps which now musters 250 men ; in 
a P.S. states that a French prisoner at Bishop's Walton has a 
valuable collection of butterflies which he wishes to sell. 
[Attached is an inventory of the contents of the trunks, with 
a note by B., " Recovered from Bishop's Walton Augt. 18 
1803 from Mr. Cole ". f. 62]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281, 61. 

DESGHAMPS, Louis Auguste, (1765-1842) Naturalist. (See B.L. p. 261). 

3. Portsmouth 1803 May 28. Although he has not the honour of being known to 

B . , he , as a naturalist in distress and a victim of the war, appeals 
for the assistance of B. ; after an absence of 12 years devoted 
to science, he was naturalist in the Recherche, commanded by 
D'Entrecasteaux, and remained in Java for 10 years, 
occupied with Natural History and explored this almost 
unknown country, making a fine collection especially of 
plants ; he therefore applies to B., the foremost naturalist in 
England and the companion of Capt Cook, for assistance, 
especially as B. had been the means of restoring the collec- 
tions of his colleague Labillardiere [See B.L. p. 514] ; he 
now begs B. to render similar assistance to himself. [French] 
[Note by B., " I wrote on the Rect. of this Letter to Capt. 
George of the Transport Office to obtain the liberation of 
M. Deschamps, on the plea of his being a non combatant 
which he immediately obtained from the Admiralty in 
consequence of which orders for his Release were forwarded 
to Portsmouth."] 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 69-70. 

4. St. Omer. 1803 June 25. Informs B. that he has rejoined his family at St. 

Omer and expresses his and their thanks to B. for his help in 
extricating him from his unfortunate situation ; Broussonet 
has left for Paris and sends his respects to B. [French]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 41V0-41. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 79 

5. St. Omer. 1803 July 5. He feels anxious about his property for which he has 

long been waiting ; as communication from Dover has not been 
interrupted, he fears his goods have been seized by the 
Customs officers at Dover ; this delay is all the more dis- 
quieting as all his papers are there and he cannot go to 
Paris without seeing them ; as he fears he may be com- 
promised if opposition were made by the [British] Govern- 
ment, he once more begs B.'s intervention with the Ministry 
to recover his effects. [French]. [On the back is a note 
from PIGAULT-MAUBAILLARCQ ; see infra, and B.L. 
p. 671.] 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 64. 

6. St. Omer. 1803 July 26. He has already written twice to thank B. for his 

valuable aid and to inform him that his property has not yet 
arrived ; begs pardon for his importunity, but fears his 
former letters have not reached B. [French] 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 52. 

7. [Soho Square. 1803. Aug. 18.* He has twice written to explain why D.'s trunks 

have not yet been received, and fears his letters have mis- 
carried ; the last of the trunks have only just come, having 
been carried away by some French gentlemen. [See supra, 
COLE, W. No. 9] ; hopes all his property has now been 
recovered, but he cannot answer for that owing to inter- 
ference by the French ; nearly a month ago orders were 
given to the agent of M. Pigault-Maubaillarcq [q.v.] to lose no 
opportunity of forwarding them to that gentleman ; no ship 
has sailed to France, and it is impossible to send goods by 
pacquet, as they are never allowed to enter Calais harbour ; 
regrets the disappointment, as the English Government has 
ordered every facility to be given so that all the collections 
may be restored. [Note by B. " Augt. 18 Learning from 
Mr. Newland's letter annexd that this letter would not pass I 
have omitted to send it." See infra NEWLAND, Isaac, 
No. 2]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 53. 

8. Paris. 1803 Sept. 21. [Received Dec. 3]. Acknowledges B.'s letter of 

25 July, informing him that he holds all his possessions and 
will forward them on the first opportunity ; as it was hoped 
to send them by M. Pigault [ — Maubaillarcq.] (q.v.) at 
Calais, this method must fail as communication there is 
interrupted, and it would be better to send them to Morlaix, 



80 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

to M. Forestier of the Bureaux de La Marine, as nothing 
would then be opened by the Customs officers ; in the list 
of the collection sent, there is no mention of 6 wooden boxes 
containing dried plants ; he fears these have been sent to 
W. Cole, to whom he has written ; these cases contain the 
most valuable of all the plants collected in Java ; Brous- 
sonet is in Paris about to leave for Montpellier. [French]. 

B. M.Add. MS. 52281. 57-58. 

9. Paris. 1803 Dec. 28. [Received Jan 28, 1804]. Renews his thanks to 

B. for the great kindnesses rendered and for the assurance 
that on the first opportunity his property will be restored to 
him ; asks that the cases may be sent to M. Forestier Chef 
de division de la Marine at Morlaix or to his own address at 
St. Omer ; Broussonet and his family are at Montpellier, 
he has little or nothing to communicate as to Natural 
History, as everyone is occupied in making new systems or in 
describing old plants under new names ; Dr. Jussieu is about 
to issue his Species Plantarum on which he has long been 
working ; the Chevalier [Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de] 
Fleurieu has written the Voyage of D'Entrecasteaux, which 
is being printed at the expense of Government. [French]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 55-56. 

10. St. Omer. 18 14 June 14. Refers to information in his last letters that he 

was in London at the same time as Broussonet, and hopes B. 
will remember a naturalist arrived from Java and whose 
collections were detained by the Custom House at Ports- 
mouth ; [Timothy] Topping (q.v.) who brings this letter has 
undertaken to obtain from B. the information necessary to 
recover the collections from the person with whom they were 
deposited in London ; it is possible that they may have been 
returned to France long ago, in which case he will endeavour 
to recover them. [French]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 66. 

DOUCE, Francis, F.S.A. (1757-1834). Antiquary. (See First Supplt. p. 47). 

39. Soho Square. 1815 Jan. 1.* Returns thanks for books lent and asks for the 

loan of Vol. hi of Rymer's Fcedera. [Fellows No. 18]. 

Bodleian. MS. Douce d. 22. 185. 

DRYDEN, Frances, nee HOWELL (d. 1828) Widow of Sir Gregory Dryden, 3rd 
Bart. 

1. Revesby Abbey. 1807 Oct. 20.* Assures her that he has confidence in [John] 
Linton, [B.L. p. 545] and that he will watch over the interests 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 81 

of Lady Dryden and her son ; asks if she has an agent in 
London with whom he can communicate ; the Clergy are 
averse to accepting one ninth of the Common Lands in lieu 
of their tithes and to giving up a portion of their advantages 
for the purpose of erecting and endowing chapels ; he hopes 
that after consultation with the parishes concerned, the bill 
will be passed at the next session of Parliament. 

Northampton Records Office. 

This relates to an Act for inclosing the lands in the East and West Fens in Lincolnshire. 
Lady Dryden, though resident at Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire, was a landowner in 
the area affected by the Act. After long negotiations, the Act was passed, including the 
clauses to which the Clergy had objected, 50 Geo. Ill, c. 129, and received the Royal Assent, 
24 May. 1810. 

DUNDAS, Henry, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811) Statesman. (See B.L. 
p. 283). 

6. Somerset Place. 1791 Oct. 6. Encloses a letter from Sir John Sinclair {q.v.) about 

a Merino Ram for the Society for the Improvement of 
British Wool ; he had understood that two Rams were to be 
sent, but supposes the season is too far advanced to send the 
second. [See SINCLAIR, Sir John, infra, Nos. 19, 20]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 10. 

7. Revesby Abbey. 1791 Oct. 12.* H.M. The King certainly destined two Rams for 

the Society ; the second will be sent to their order. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. iovo. 

DUNDAS, Thomas, 1st Baron, F.R.S. (1741-1820) Agriculturist. (B.L. p. 284). 

5. Carlton House. 1811 Feb. 19. Informs B. that on his recommendation to the 

Prince Regent, [John] Pond will be appointed Astronomer 
Royal ; he understands that the Home Secretary is the 
official channel to give effect to this. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 100. 

6. [Soho Square. 1811] Feb. 19.* Acknowledges the above letter and notes that 

H.R.H. is disposed to the appointment of John Pound and 
that the Home Secretary is the proper person to make the 
appointment ; asks if it would be proper for him (B.) to 
take any step in the matter at present. [This apparently 
was not sent but the following letter substituted]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 100 vo. 

7. Soho Square. 1811 Feb. 20.* Acknowledges his letter of the 19th and requests 

him to convey to H.R.H. his gratitude and to assure him that 



82 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

his (B.'s) recommendation was made in the knowledge that 
Pond's qualifications are superior to those of his competitors. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 101. 

FITZROY, Augustus Henry, 3rd Duke of Grafton. (1735-1811). 
2. Stony Stratford. 1791 Aug. 23. Enquires whether the Spanish Ram presented to 
him by the King is one of those imported in 1790, or a lamb 
bred therefrom ; if, the latter, asks its age and by what dam. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 8. 

3 [Soho Square]. 1791 Aug. 25.* Replies that the Ram is a real Merino, imported 
by H.M. in 1790. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 9. 

FORSTER, Edward, F.R.S. (1765-1849). Banker and Botanist. 

1. Soho Square. 1804 May 26.* Solicits F.'s vote in favour of [Henry James] 

Cholmeley who wishes to be a candidate for the position 
of Assistant Physician to Guy's Hospital should a vacancy 
occur ; he (B.) would not venture to recommend him were 
he not assured of his merits and qualifications. 

Bodleian. MS. Eng. Letters c. 200. 64. 

Henry James Cholmeley, (1 778-1 837) was the son of a Lincolnshire friend of B., 
Montague Cholmeley of Easton, whose wife was Sarah, daughter of another Lincolnshire 
friend, Humphrey Sibthorp, Professor of Botany at Oxford. Dr. H. S. Cholmeley was of 
Christ Church, Oxford ; M.A. 1803 ; M.D. 1807 ; F.R.C.P., 1811. He was appointed 
Physician to Guy's Hospital in 181 1, a post which he held until his death. 

Edward Forster, Banker of Gracechurch Street, London, was a well-known botanist and 
a Governor of Guy's Hospital. 

GRAFTON, Duke of— See FITZROY, Augustus Henry. 

GREVILLE, Robert Fulke, F.R.S. (1751-1824) Equerry to George III. (See 
B.L. 372 and 903). 

30. Gt. Cumberland Street. 1809 July 12. Informs B. that the Prerogative Court 

has made a decree appointing him sole administrator of the 
effects of his brother [The Hon. Charles Francis Greville. 
See B.L. p. 370] ; describes the opposition of Lord Warwick, 
[George, 2nd Earl, elder brother of Robert Fulke Greville] 
and others ; he will request B., as his bondsman, to execute 
the necessary deed. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 95-96. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 83 

HARRISON, Edward (i763?-i836) Medical Practitioner. [B.L. p. 398). 
2. Soho Square. 1804 Dec. 31.* Returns thanks for copies of the correspondence 
between the Rev. Edward Walls [q.v. B.L. p. 853] and him- 
self (H.), detailing his friendly attempts to effect a recon- 
ciliation between Walls and B. ; in view of the implacability 
of Walls and the foolish lucubrations he has seen fit to 
publish, he (B.) considers them a " telum imbelle et sine ictu, 
like all the rest shot out of his Fool's Quiver " ; if Walls 
wishes to try the case at law, he will clearly be nonsuited ; 
expresses his thanks for the honour conferred upon him by 
the Benevolent Medical Society ; asks if H. keeps a rain- 
gauge, and if so, requests him to send his readings to [John] 
Blanchard of Nottingham, [q.v. B.L. p. 104]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 92. 

Full copies of the letters of Harrison and Walls are ff 73-91 vo. "Walls had printed a bitter 
attack upon B in Nov. 1803, (See B.L. p. 854, No. 10) add Harrison, as a neighbour of both 
parties, made a friendly attempt at reconciliation. B treated Walls' attack with silent con- 
tempt, and Walls remained bitter and implacible. 

HARRISON, Sir George (d. 1841). Assistant Secretary to the Treasury. (See 

B.L. p. 398). 

4. Treasury 1811 Feb. 20. Informs B. that he has seen Perceval who desires 

Chambers him to say that B. need trouble himself no further about 

the appointment of the Astronomer Royal as the matter is 

now all settled. [See PERCEVAL, Spencer, No. 2, and 

DUNDAS, Lord Thomas, Nos. 5, 6]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 104. 

JENNER, Edward, F.R.S. (1749-1823) Physician and Naturalist. (B.L. p. 474). 

2. Berkeley. 1789 [end of June]. Describes experiments made in mating a 

male fox with a female terrier with a view to ascertaining if 
such a cross would be fertile, but it failed ; describes experi- 
ments using serum of human blood as a manure for grass, 
and experiments on mustard seed set in layers of wool 
moistened with (1) water, (2) serum, (3) coagulated blood ; 
the seeds sprouted but soon withered, but when trial was 
repeated with one part of serum and two parts of water, the 
experiment was successful ; describes further experiments 
with growing plants and trees ; he has heard from [Sir 
Charles] Blagden that his letter to John Hunter on the 
cuckoo is to be published in Philosophical Transactions. 

Baron 1 , i. 73-77 

1 John Baron, Life of Edward Jenner, 2 vols, London, 1838, 



84 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

3. Soho Square 1787 July 7.* He is much interested in the experiment on fox x 

dog, and the effects of manure on plants ; in consequence of 
J.'s discovery that the young cuckoo and not the foster- 
parents ejects the young birds of the host from the nest, 
requests that the Council of the Royal Society may be 
allowed to alter J.'s paper accordingly, but they will be glad 
to print it later ; John Hunter has sent an excellent paper 
on Whales which will soon be printed. 

Baron, i. 77-78. 

4. Soho Square. 1811. Dec. 14.* Sends J. notice of his election to the Institut de 

France in the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Maskelyne, 
and congratulates him on his admission by those who" are 
as little satisfied with the barbarous mode of warfare 
adopted by their Chief as we Englishmen can be ". 

Baron, ii. 167. 

KNATCHBULL, Frances Anne. (d. 1843). 

1. Hatch. 1793 Aug. 11. [To Lady Banks]. Describes a prescription and 

treatment for gall-stones which Lady B. desired to have ; 
she hopes it is not required for any member of the family. 

B.M. Acid. MS. 52281. 20. 

KRAMER, Johann Hermann. (1776-1838). Hydraulic Engineer 

I. Bremen. 1816 July 29. Informs B. that he has made " a most important 

inorganic discovery ", (eine der wichtigsten unorgenischen 
Erfindungen) ; he has sent an account of this in a sealed 
packet to the Gesellschaft d. Wissenschaft : the nature of 
the discovery is not stated in the letter, but he considers it to 
be not only of scientific but also of economic value and asks 
B. to assist him to finance it and to secure his rights as dis- 
coverer for the benefit of his family. [German]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 138-139. 

As this letter was addressed to B., I presumed that by the " Society of Science " The Royal 
Society is meant. I am informed that there is no reference to the matter in the Council 
Minutes or other records of the R.S., and it is therefore probable that one of the German 
Academies is referred to. The letter is written in fulsome and flattering terms. 

The writer was an engineer in Norway, then a captain in the Danish army, from which he 
retired and became a Prussian civil servant with the title of Ober-revisionsrath. 

LOUREIRO, Joao. (1710— 1791). (See B.L. p. 556). 

9. Soho Square. 1780 May 12.* As he has received many advantages from L. 's 
scientific labours, he hopes he may be induced to visit 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 85 

England ; their mutual friend Perry, who brought L.'s latest 
descriptions of Cochin China plants, reports that such a visit 
is to be hoped for. 

Dawson, M.S. 46. 105 vo. 

10. Soho Square. 1782 Dec. 22.* Returns by [Francis] Masson L.'s manuscript 

work entitled Nova Genera Plantarum which he had bound 
into a volume, and on which his (B.'s) name has been inad- 
vertently stamped by his Librarian ; owing to the difficulties 
under which L. had compiled it through lack of books to 
which to refer, it contains errors that need correction ; if 
suitably revised it would be a useful and valuable work; 
hopes that in spite of the infirmities of age, L. will be induced 
to visit England where the resources of B.'s library and the 
Royal Society will be at his service. 

Dawson, MS. 46. 106. 

As Padre Joao Loureiro, an eminent Portuguese botanist who had travelled in the Far 
East, had sent B. the manuscript of his work on Cochin China plants to be published in 
England [B.L. No. i], he being then in Canton, B. returned it to him by Francis Masson, 
[q.v. B.L. p. 590], who was about to travel to Spain and Portugal. In B.'s opinion the work 
required extensive correction and revision before it would be in a fit state for publication. 
Loureiro had been in Canton from 1779 to 1781 and had returned to Lisbon when B.'s 
second letter was written. The work was eventually published in two volumes in 1790 
with the title Flora Cochinchinensis . The mutual friend Perry has not been identified. He 
was probably an official in the East India Company's establishment at Canton. The 
originals of both these letters are in the library of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 
Paris. 

MACLEAN, William. Inspector of Customs, H.E.I. Co. {B.L. p. 565). 

3. E.I. Office 1803 June 28. Reports that two trunks belonging to Deschamps 
Custom House have not arrived at the E.I. Co. Baggage Warehouse ; he 

supposes some mistake has arisen owing to the officers at 
Portsmouth having detained them through the ship being 
Prize and not condemned ; suggests communicating with 
Portsmouth ; encloses statement of charges on B.'s Teneriffe 
wine and other articles sent, not chargeable to the Royal 
Gardens at Kew. [See supra, COLE, William and DES- 
CHAMPS, Louis Auguste], 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 37-37 vo. 

4. E.I. Office 1803 July 16. Reports that he has found the two missing trunks 
Custom House. of Deschamps ; encloses copy of a letter from the Collector 

of Customs at Portsmouth explaining that by an error of the 
Warehouse Keeper the trunks were sent in the name of 
Quillon as from Admiral Chapman ; reports that the war- 



86 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

rant from the Treasury authorizes delivery of the trunks 
(which contain wearing apparel) and also the collections and 
papers at Portsmouth ; requests B. to order that the 
remainder of the packages at Portsmouth be sent to the 
E.I. Co. Baggage Warehouse ; meanwhile the two trunks 
will be sent to Soho Square. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 43-43 vo. 

5. E.I. Office 1803 July 20. He has made application for sending the packages 
Custom House. of Deschamps from Portsmouth. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 46. 

6. E.I. Office 1803 July 27. Reports the arrival of 4 cases and 2 chests 
Custom House. belonging to Deschamps ; he understands that communi- 
cation by neutral ships has been stopped and nothing can 
be sent direct to Calais at present ; meanwhile he will 
have an inventory made so that no delay may occur when an 
opportunity offers of sending the goods to Deschamps. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 49. 

NEPEAN, Sir Evan, Bart., F.R.S, (1751-1822) Under Secretary of State. {B.L. 
P- 633). 

14. Whitehall. 1785 Sept. 3. Informs B. that the Commodore has received his 

orders and will probaby sail in a few days ; the gardener 
should call at the Admiralty to receive his official instructions 
in accordance with the draft furnished by B., before he goes 
to Portsmouth ; Mas[s]on has gone to the City to arrange 
joining the mess with some of the Mates of the Talbot ; 
expects the letters of recommendation to the Governor of 
the Cape of Good Hope by van Lynden. [Dutch Ambas- 
sador]. 

B.M. (iV.ff.)f 

This letter relates to the journey of Francis Masson to the Cape, (B.L. p. 590, No. 4) and 
precedes NEPEAN, No. 1 [B.L. p. 633). 

NEWLAND, Isaac. [B.L. p. 635). 

2. York Place [1793 Aug. 18] Informs B. that there is no other method of sending 
letters safely to France except through one of the neutral 
ambassadors, with all of whom B. is acquainted ; he thinks 
that an application by B. himself to Count Woronzow would 
be effective. [Count Simon Woronzow was Russian Ambas- 
sador in England. See supra, DESCHAMPS, L. A. No. 7]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 54. 

f Inserted in a copy of Edward Smith's Life of Banks. (See supra, note to ASTLE, Thomas, No. 1). 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 87 

PERCEVAL, Spencer (1762-1812) Statesman. (B.L. p. 665). 

2. Downing Street. 1811 Feb. 10. Assures B. that he will not recommend for 
appoinment as Astronomer Royal any person who has not 
B.'s approbation ; he has been solicited on behalf of another 
candidate whom he has informed accordingly. [See 
supra, HARRISON, Sir George, No. 4]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 102. 

PERCY, Thomas, D.D. (1729-1811) Bishop of Dromore (See B.L. p. 666). 

5. Soho Square. 1783 Nov. 11.* Having read in the newspapers of the discovery 

of the skeleton of a Moose deer of extraordinary size near 
Dromore, he informs P. that although the horns of that 
animal have been seen in England, there is no specimen of 
it except a defective cranium : he requests that the skeleton 
may be lodged in the B.M. where it can be examined by 
naturalists with a view to ascertaining whether the species is 
extinct or if it still exists in any part of the world. [Precedes 
B.L. No. 1]. 

Bodleian. MS. Eng. Misc. b. 38. 133-4. 

6. Soho Square. 1783 Dec. 30.* Returns thanks for P.'s letter describing the 

bones of the deer [B.L. No. 1] ; he does not " covet his 
neighbour's goods " but repeats his request that the speci- 
men be made available for scientific examination ; states 
his views on the extinction of animals and sends an engrav- 
ing of the bones of a horse to help in identifying the 
corresponding bones of the deer. [Follows B.L. No. 1]. 

Bodleian. MS. Eng. Misc. b. 38 137-8. 

7. Soho Square. 1784 Feb. 7.* Returns thanks for P.'s letter enclosing a drawing 

of the deer's horns, [B.L. No. 2] ; considers the Moose of 
America to be the same animal as the Elk of northern 
Europe, and that Josseline (sic) gives a foolish reason for 
the Moose being different from the Elk, [John Josselyn, 
New England's Rarities discovered, 1672] ; he alters his 
opinion in his New England Voyages, [Account of Two 
Voyages to New England, 1674, p. 88] where he describes an 
animal under the name of Moose or Elk killed in Finland ; 
B. considers both accounts to be fabulous; states the 
differences in the antlers of the Dromore deer and the Irish 
Elk ; Pennant is of opinion that the Moose and the Elk are 
the same animal ; the Anatomy of the animals in the 
Museum of the King of France is published both in French 
and English ; he has all the versions in his library, and not 



88 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

one of them gives the skeleton of a deer though a young 
Elk is depicted ; thanks F. for the reference to the Came- 
lopardalis [in Fynes Moryson's Travels, 1617], there is a 
stuffed skin in the B.M. and some bones, and he hopes the 
living animal may be found at the Cape of Good Hope. 

Bodleian. MS. Eng. Misc. b. 38. 139-140. 

PHIPPS, Constantine John, 2nd Baron Mulgrave, F.R.S. (1744-1792) Naval 

Officer. {B.L. P669). 

4. Race Horse, off [1773] July 4. Although in 79 30' he has seen no ice, and has no 

Spitzbergen. fire in his cabin ; he has collected various Natural History 

specimens for B., including a new Larus. [This bird is a 

Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla. L. ; the letter is published in 

Journ. Soc. Bibl. Nat. Hist., Vol. 4. pt. 4, (1964), p. 208]. 

B.M. [N.H)\ 

PIGAULT-MOBAILLARCQ: (B.L. p. 671). 

2. Calais. 1803 July 7. [Written on the back of DESCHAMPS, L. A., No. 

5]. Corrects Deschamps's letter, left open, to say that the 
quickest way to obtain his effects and those of Broussonet 
would be to send them to [George] Christopher of the 
Custom House, London, with the request to ship them directly 
on the first neutral ship for Calais, as it is doubtful that they 
can come from Dover, and Christopher will do what is 
necessary. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 65. 

RAMPASSE, Joseph, (fl. 1805-1816) Geologist. (See B.L. p. 693, and First 

Supplement, p. 60). 
4 Florence. 1816 Oct. 29. After a nattering introduction, he states that he 

has written four times since receiving his letter of 25 Jan. 
[Supp. No. 2, precedes B.L. p. 693, No. 1], on 7 May, 7 
June and 13 Sept. [B.L. No. 2] ; his unfortunate situation 
moved him to approach the authorities of the B.M. [in order 
to sell them his collections] ; his present state is even worse 
as he has had to incur commitments for his subsistence 
which have brought him before the Civil Courts ; he has 
temporized with them in the hope of a favourable decision 
[by the B.M.] but he cannot hold out any longer without the 
kindly intervention of B. and makes a poignant appeal ; 
in a P.S. he states that a remark by one of B.'s countrymen 
has given him fears as to B.'s health ; he has since heard a 

f Inserted in a copy of Edward Smith's Life of Banks. See above, note to ASTLE, Thomas, No. 1. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 89 

satisfactory report from [August Friedrich] Schweigger, a 
German Professor of Zoology ; from his meeting with 
Schweigger he is more than ever convinced that his letters 
have not been received. [French], 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 140. 

5. Florence. 1816 Nov. 23. Acknowledges B.'s letter of n Oct. which arrived 

9 Nov., the first he has had since that of 25 Jan. [B.L. No. 1], 
and which crossed his own of 29 Oct. [No. 4] ; the disap- 
pointment conveyed by this last letter is very painful that 
the Trustees of the B.M. have declined his offer although the 
previous letter gave him grounds for hope ; he repeats that 
the hopes that B.'s friend M. Dashewoot [? Dash wood] had 
given him are nullified by B.'s letter ; he considers that the 
candour and integrity in which he conducted his negotiations 
with the Trustees should entitle him to assistance either by 
B. personally or by the Trustees in view of his distressing 
circumstances ; asks B. to appoint some trusty person to 
arbitrate on the value of the 3 cases of minerals he sent ; 
states that these minerals, other than the porphyry, orbicular 
granite and Corsican sand, were specially obtained for him 
in Tuscany as specimens not to be found in any other 
collection. [French]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 142. 

It is not known how the affair of the unfortunate Rampasse terminated as the correspon- 
dence is incomplete : such letters as have survived come from three different sources. The 
minerals he sent for purchase by the B.M., and which the Trustees declined, were presumably 
sent back to him, unless B. had them sold in London for Rampasse's benefit. 

REEVES, John (1752?— 1829) King's Printer. {B.L. p. 695). 

2. Soho Square. 1814 Dec. 7.*. Incipit " In answer to your Question with which 
your Pamphlet is headed I beg leave to write NO ; " 
against R.'s contention that the Americans born before the 
Independence, by the laws of England are not aliens, B. 
affirms that every American who levied war against his 
Sovereign is guilty of High Treason ; also that the declara- 
tion of Independence in Parliament is in effect a declaration 
that the Americans are no longer subjects of Great Britain ; 
discusses the legal status of ante nati and post nati ; a person 
declared to be independent cannot be ad fidem regis of the 
country of which he is independent. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 135 yo-136 vo 

In 1 814, Reeves published a pamphlet purporting to prove that Americans born before 
the Independence are by the laws of England not aliens. In 1816, he published another of 



go SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

the same purport. Banks emphatically disagreed with this opinion, and drew up a state- 
ment headed " An Attempt to refute the Argument of the arrogant Barrister who has 
ventured to declare that all the World, himself alone excepted, were labouring under the 
disabilities of Vulgar Error." A copy of this document, not in B.'s handwriting, is preserved 
with the copy of the letter. B. has cancelled the last paragraph and added in his own hand 
the following : "The arguments concerning Ante and Post nati were not as I fancied them 
when I wrote the above at the occasion of Queen Annes union of the two kingdoms. They 
were on the uniting of the Two Kingdoms under James the first. The arguments therefore 
are sound as the ante nati could not be subjects of the English Crown unless admitted to that 
Privilege by Parliament. 

" If Americans can in any sense be deemed Subjects of the British Crown all of them ante 
nati as well as Post nati must be endowd with the Privelege as the Common Law of England 
allows the children and grandchildren of British subjects wheresoever they may be born 
and does not make any distinction of Privelege or Duties between such subjects and those 
natural born." [/. 136 vo\. 

SARGENT, John. Official of the Treasury. 

1. Soho Square. 1803 June 24*. Deschamps, who accompanied d'Entrecasteaux 
as Naturalist during his voyage in search of La Peyrouse and 
resided 12 years in Java, was captured on board L' Union 
on his return by H.M.S. Jupiter, Capt. Lossack ; application 
was made by B. for his release as a non-combatant which 
was immediately granted and he returned to his own country ; 
the Captors gave up his personal luggage and collections ; 
his clothes in two trunks are now in the E.I. Co. 's warehouse 
in London, his collections and papers are in charge of the 
Custom House at Portsmouth ; he requests that the Lords 
of the Treasury may empower him (B.) to receive these duty 
free, and he would then forward them to their owner in 
France by a neutral vessel ; this indulgence to men of 
Science would produce good consequences when the French 
and their ruler lay aside the passion that now influences 
them. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 48. 

See, above, the letters of COLE, W. and DESCHAMPS, L. A. 

SINCLAIR, Sir John, 1st Bart., F.R.S. (1754-1835) President of the Board of 

Agriculture. (See B.L. p. 755). 
19 North 1791 Aug. 19. [to Henry Dundas, q.v.]. Encloses a letter from B. 

Merchiston. announcing that the King has allotted two Merino Rams to 

the Society for Improving British Wool ; describes the 
plans and activities of the Society ; encloses a memorandum 
as to how the Rams are to be conveyed to Edinburgh. [See 
DUNDAS, Henry, No. 6]. 

BM. Add. MS. 52281, 5-6. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 91 

20. Leith [179 1 Oct. 4]. [To Henry Dundas] . Notifies the arrival of a Ram ; 

he understands that two were destined and hopes the mistake 
will be rectified. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 7. 

21. Edinburgh. 1791 Oct. 22. Encloses letter from Henry Dundas and requests 

B., when he goes to Windsor, to endeavour to have the second 
Ram dispatched this season ; describes the Society's holding 
of Merino sheep and crosses and encloses a specimen of the 
wool. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. n. 

22. [Revesby 1971] Oct. 27.* Returns thanks for the specimen of wool ; H.M. 
Abbey gave early orders for two Rams to be sent to the " Scotch 

Society " and Dundas was informed of the fact ; the mistake 
was made by Ramsay Robinson, the Windosr shepherd, and 
as soon as it was discovered, Dundas was informed that a 
second Ram would be delivered to his order. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. n vo. 

SOMERVILLE, John Southey, 15th Baron Somerville. (1765-1819) President 
of the Board of Agriculture. 

1. Soho Square. 1799 May it.* Acknowledges Lord S.'s letter of May 6, recom- 

mending the formation of an Agricultural Society at 
Horncastle, which he has forwarded for the consideration 
of the gentlemen of that vicinity ; as Lord S. and the Board 
have nominated him (B.) as a proper person to be the 
President of such society, he wishes to be informed in what 
other towns in Linconlshire the Board has recommended the 
establishment of societies with the names of the proposed 
Presidents, as so much depends on the zeal of those who 
undertake such office. [Lord S.'s letter is a printed one, 
signed by him as President of the Board of Agriculture, with 
blanks for the insertion of the names of the towns and the 
proposed Presidents]. 

Rothamsteadf <i> 

2. Sackville Street. 1799 May 20. [Third person]. Lord S. sends forms for B. to 

insert the names of such towns in which Agricultural 
Societies can be advantageously founded, and the names of 
persons recommended as President of each. 

Rothamstead <2> 

f Manuscripts in the library of the Rothamstead Expeiimental Station. 



92 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 

3. [Soho Square. 1799] May 21.* [Third person]. B. presents his compliments 

to Lord S. but as he doubts his ability to execute the task 
to his Lordship's satisfaction, he begs that the matter 
may be put into the hands of some person better able to 
perform it. 

Rothamstead <3> 

For Lord Somerville's activities as an agriculturist, see H. B. Carter, His Majestys' 
Spanish Flock 1964, pp. 246*1. 

TOPPING, Timothy. 

1. Bermondsey [1815 Apr. 6] On his return from being a prisoner in France, he 

was requested to take charge of the enclosed letter [DES- 
CHAMPS, L.A. No. 10] ; requests that B. will give him the 
information asked for, which he will communicate to 
Deschamps. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 67. 

2. Soho Square 1815 Apr. 7.* In reply to his and Deschamps's letters, he has 

read the correspondence that passed between them in 1803 
and finds that Deschamps wrote on 5 July and on the back 
of that letter was a note from Pigault-Mobaillarcq (q.v.) 
desiring Deschamps's baggage to be sent to Mr. Christopher at 
the Custom House, London, to be dispatched by him ; this 
was done and he had no doubt that the baggage was sent ; 
he heard no more of the matter until the receipt of Des- 
champs's letter, when he had search made at the Custom 
House, but without result. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 68. 

YOUNG, Arthur, F.R.S. (1741-1820) Agriculturist. (See B.L. pp. 888 and 911). 

22 Bradfield. [1791] Sept. 14. Asks if it would be proper to advertise in the 

Annals [of Agriculture] that the King having presented to 
the Editor a Merino Ram in order to multiply useful crosses, 
the Ram shall cover ewes at a charge of a guinea each ; if 
B. judges that it would be distasteful to H.M., he would not so 
advertise. [Note by B. " To answer for the opinions of 
very Great People is impossible but my own on the subject of 
Spanish Sheep is that H.M. gracious purpose in giving you a 
Merino Ram cannot be better answered than by your 
advertising him at a Guinea a Ewe." [The advertisement 
was duly printed, and a copy of it is appended, f. 134]. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 132. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 93 

23. Sackville Street. [1798] May 31. Sends by order of the Board [of Agriculture] 

a communication by Ainsworth on Vegetables and requests 
B.'s opinion as to whether it merits publication or not. 
Endorsed "Not fit for Publication. J. B." 

Rothamstead <4>. 

YOUNG, Thomas, M.D., F.R.S. (1773-1829) Physician and Physicist. (See B.L. 
p. 891). 

5. WelbeckSt. 180 1 July 9. [To Count Rumford]. Accepts the offer made to 
him by the Managers of the Royal Institution, [to be 
Professor of Natural Philosophy, editor of the Journals and 
Keeper of the House] ; considers the reduced salary offered 
inadequate ; his new duties would much limit his opportuni- 
ties for continuing his medical practice which he cannot bind 
himself to discontinue entirely ; considers that the issue of 
the Journals should be left to the discretion of the Professor 
and not necessarily to be weekly. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281, 30-31. 

Count Rumford evidently sent this letter to B. for his information. Young was duly 
appointed but resigned the professorship in 1803. See B.L. p. 814, No. 47. 

PSEUDONYMOUS LETTERS. {B.L. p. 895). 

37. Stockholm. 1797 June 4. Signed " Antiquarius Botherarius ". Neatly and 

closely written, the letter fills 3 pages. The writing is much 
faded and is difficult to read. The narrative, a burlesque 
full of absurdities, reads like a modern Arabic popular story. 
The episode of the amulet in the form of a miniature croco- 
dile, which, on the recitation of a magical formula, becomes a 
real crocodile, recalls that in an ancient Egyptian story in 
the Papyrus Westcar. (Maspero, Popular Stories of Ancient 
Egypt, 1915, p. 26). 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 23-24. 

38. [1798] — . A satirical letter, undated, but marked by B. as 

received 19 Dec. 1798. It is addressed " Sir Joseph Bankis 
Knt., Small Beer Green, near Hounslow ", and signed 
" Pigdum Funnibus ", and is insulting to Lady Banks. 

B.M. Add. MS. 52281. 25. 






PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 
BY ADLARD AND SON LIMITED 
BARTHOLOMEW PRESS, DORKING 



IM- ff . 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 



P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 



BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 
HISTORICAL SERIES Vol 3 No. 4 

LONDON : 1966 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 



1 JUN W66 



BY 



P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 



Pp 95-128 ; Plates 1-75 



BULLETIN OF 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 4 

LONDON: 1966 



THE BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

(natural history), instituted in 1949, is 
issued in five series corresponding to the Departments 
of the Museum, and an Historical series. 

Parts will appear at irregular intervals as they become 
ready. Volumes will contain about three or four 
hundred pages, and will not necessarily be completed 
within one calendar year. 

In 1965 a separate supplementary series of longer 
papers was instituted, numbered serially for each 
Department. 

This paper is Vol. 3, No. 4 of the Historical series. 
The abbreviated titles of periodicals cited follow those 
of the World List of Scientific Periodicals. 



© Trustees of British Museum (Natural History) 1966 



TRUSTEES OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

Issued June, ig66 Price £2 15s. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 

By P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 



In memory of Gerald Tomkinson, 1876-1959 



PREFACE 

When Mr. Gerald Tomkinson died, in 1959, he left his collection of birds' eggs to 
his son Mr. J. W. Tomkinson. The collection included an egg of the Great Auk and 
was supplemented by a printed list, prepared by Edward Bidwell, of all the Great 
Auk eggs known to exist in 1892, with annotated additions up to 1900, together with 
a set of photographs of all but two of the eggs. Mrs. P. M. L. Tomkinson and her 
husband decided to bring Bidwell's list of eggs and owners up to date and were 
encouraged to do so by Mr. J. D. Macdonald, officer in charge of the Bird Section of 
this Department. Early in the compilation of the available information it became 
clear that it would be desirable to record the history of each egg and so from a 
simple list the project developed into the present publication which includes a 
photograph of each egg and a summary of its provenance and changes of ownership 
to the present time. 

The 75 eggs, together with some skins and skeletons are all that now remain of 
the Great Auk. The extinction of this species is usually attributed to human agency, 
because over a long period, these flightless birds were driven into stone pens, 
slaughtered and salted down in the holds of ships for food and oil. There is evidence, 
however, that the distribution of the Great Auk was shrinking long before man 
came on the scene and that its course was towards extinction because of adverse 
biological factors. It is because of the common, inherent propensity of man to 
collect that these few relics of an extinct species survive today. 

J. P. Harding 

Keeper of Zoology 



98 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

INTRODUCTION 

There is no authentic record of the existence of the Great Auk after 1844. Its 
disappearance put a scarcity value on its relics and the prices at which the few 
remaining eggs changed hands increased until at the turn of the century they 
usually reached over three hundred pounds. Although that means about as many 
thousands by present monetary values the price does not seem to have increased 
much beyond that actual figure judging by the few recent sales where the purchase 
price has been made known. Great Auk eggs became collectors' pieces and no 
cabinet of any pretentions was complete without one, if not an original then a copy. 
One of the most productive and expert copyists was John Hancock of Newcastle 
whose models of several of the eggs fetched anything up to five pounds at auction 
sales. 

The following records show that the eggs did not rise in value until long after the 
bird became extinct. For a number of years after 1844 eggs are known to have 
been given away or to have changed hands for a few shillings or francs: for example, 
Hewitson (1856) refers to the £$ paid by Wilmot (see No. 9) as "an extravagant 
price". There was, therefore, no great enticement of financial gain in collecting eggs 
during the last few decades of the birds existence, by which time its fate must have 
been sealed; its population must have dwindled to a point beyond all reasonable 
hope of recovery. 

The basis of these notes was provided, of course, by Bidwell's photographs, with 
the corresponding list, which would permit complete identification of each egg. As 
Bidwell's list was the starting point, we decided to keep his numbering of the eggs, 
tracing each one to its present owner, keeping any untraced egg in its proper order 
as long as no certain proof of its being destroyed was obtained, and adding any new 
discovery to the end. This might, at first glance, give a false idea of the number of 
eggs, but we thought it best not to start a new numbering as many owners are aware 
of Bidwell's list and the number of their egg or eggs in it. 

Bidwell's numbers did not correspond with those given by Symington Grieve to 
the eggs known to him when he published his book "The Great Auk or Garefowl" 
in 1885. Thomas Parkin also numbered the eggs differently in his "The Great Auk: 
A Record of Sales of the Birds and Eggs of the Great Auk in Great Britain", 19 12. 
The relationship of these systems of numbering is indicated in Appendix D. 

Bidwell recorded 71 eggs and obtained photographs of 69 of them. We have 
been fortunate in being able to get photographs of the other two, by kind permission 
of The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia and the Smithsonian Institution, 
Washington, D.C. The owners of four additional eggs have also supplied us with 
photographs. 

Of Bidwell's 71 eggs the present location of three has not been traced: they are 
Nos. 38, 59, 68. As there is no proof that they have ceased to exist we have 
included what information we have about them in their proper sequence. We hope 
that by bringing attention to them in this way information about their subsequent 
history will come to light. It is possible that some might be owned by Captain Vivian 
Hewitt of Bryn Aber, Anglesey, North Wales, who has not been able to give us full 
information on the eggs in his collection.* 

♦Captain Vivian Hewitt died on 26th July, 1965. It is not known what is to become of this collection of 
Great Auk eggs. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 99 

Of the four eggs we have added to our list No. 72 was mentioned by Thomas 
Parkin in 1912, and No. 73 was added by Bidwell in MS in 1914 to his own copy of 
his printed list. Nos. 74 and 75 were unknown to previous recorders and are here 
listed for the first time. The former is located in the city Museum at Bristol and the 
latter in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. 

Except in a few cases the origin of the eggs is not known. It is probable that many 
of them were taken in eastern Canada during the period when vessels from Europe 
visited Newfoundland and other places on that coast to victual with easily available 
fresh meat and eggs and barrels of salted birds. No doubt sailors brought home a 
few eggs as souvenirs, like Ostrich and Emu eggs at a later date were brought or sent 
home by early travellers and settlers in South Africa and Australia. French ships 
were frequent visitors to these waters and a number of eggs can be traced to French 
sources. Some British ports, like Poole in Dorset, had trading connections with 
Newfoundland while the Great Auk was still plentiful. Other eggs, especially those 
handled by German dealers, probably originated in Iceland. 

One fact which has come out clearly in this study is the reduction of Great Auk 
eggs in private collections {see Appendix A). As these collections break up, with 
the passing of time, most of the eggs have found their way to various museums 
in Europe and the United States of America. There is one exception. The largest 
number, at least eleven, is owned by Captain Hewitt. He acquired four, two directly 
and two indirectly through Jourdain, from another large private collection, that 
of G. Dawson Rowley whose six specimens were auctioned in 1934. Of the other 
two, one is still in private hands and the other has been lost trace of. In the latter 
half of the nineteenth century Robert Champley owned nine eggs of which only 
one is now in private hands. One of Lord Lilford's five eggs is now in the British 
Museum; the other four went to Alfred Newton who gave them, along with three 
other eggs in his possession, to Cambridge University Museum. At the end of last 
century the Baron d'Hamonville owned four eggs, two of which are still owned 
privately, one by Captain Hewitt and one by us: the other two went into the great 
Thayer collection whose ten specimens were donated to the Harvard Museum of 
Comparative Zoology in 1931-32. This trend of events is only to be expected and 
will have the advantage of bringing more permanency to these records, as the 
frequent changes of ownership in the past occurred mostly between private indivi- 
duals. It should also ensure the best conditions for the safe keeping of these remains 
of this unfortunate bird. 

It would not be possible to name here all those who have so kindly helped in this 
research, answering endless enquiries, photographing their eggs for comparison, 
looking up records and data with great generosity. We are indebted to all the 
Museums and private owners who in this way, have made the work possible. Finally, 
we must thank Mr. Macdonald for his support and encouragement; and Major W. M. 
Congreve who put his knowledge and his memories of many past owners at our 
complete disposal. 



ioo P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

EGG NO. I (PI. I) 

Grieve 's No. 31 or 32; Parkin's No. XXV 

Location. British Museum (Natural History), London. 

Remarks. Badly cracked and faded because of being glued to a board and 
exhibited in the public gallery at Bloomsbury for fifty years. 

History. This specimen and No. 2 were first recorded in the possession of 
William Bullock, a Liverpool jeweller and goldsmith whose private collection of 
"natural and foreign curiosities" became famous Museums in both Liverpool and 
London in the early part of last century. The contents of the Museum were finally 
sold by auction in 1819. This egg was packed in a box along with a skin of the 
Great Auk from Papa Westray, Orkney. There is nothing to show that both came 
from that locality, but it is recorded that Bullock visited the Orkneys in 18 13, that 
he tried without success to get specimens of the Great Auk, which had become 
rather uncommon by that time, and that some were sent on to him soon after his 
visit. Egg and skin were auctioned on 16th May, 1819, and bought on behalf of the 
Trustees of the British Museum by Dr. Leach, Keeper of the Zoology Department, 
for £16 15s. 6d. 

EGG No. 2 (PI. 2) 

Grieve' s No. 31 or 32; Parkin's No. XXVI 

Location. British Museum (Natural History), London. 

Remarks. The number "139" is inscribed on the small end. Like No. 1 the egg 
is badly cracked and faded because of being glued to a board and exhibited in the 
Museum public gallery for many years. 

History. As for No. 1. Originally in Bullock's collection. Bought by Dr. Leach 
on 3rd June, 1819 for either 12s. or 17s. 

EGG No. 3 (PL 3) 
Grieves No. 23; Figured in colour by Grieve, The Great Auk, 1885, 108, no. 1 

Location. Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. 

History. This egg and No. 4 were first recorded in the collection of Monsieur 
Dufresne of Paris. Dufresne was originally a dealer in natural history specimens 
and was also for some time Keeper of the Cabinet of Natural History belonging to 
the Empress Josephine. In 1815 he entered the Paris Museum as Assistant Keeper 
and it was while in that position that he sold this and No. 4, as part of an extensive 
collection, to some members of the Senatus of Edinburgh University in 1819. The 
collection was acquired by the Senatus as a body in 1855 and transferred by them to 
the Museum of Science and Art, now the Royal Scottish Museum. 

EGG No. 4 (PI. 4) 
Grieve' s No. 24; Figured in colour by Grieve, The Great Auk, 1885, IQ 8> no - 2 
Location. Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. 
History. As for No. 3. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 101 

EGG No. 5 (PI. 5) 
Grieve's No. 38; Parkin's No. IX. Figured by Wolley, Ootheca Wolleyana, 1905, 

2; pi. 17 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

Remarks. This egg and No. 6 had the word "Egal" or "Egale" written on them; 
and also the word "Pingouin" was once plainly visible on both. 

History. The first certain record of both eggs is in the collection of a Mr. Moule 
who was President of the Post Office in Edinburgh from 1820 to 1840. Newton 
thought that these eggs may have been part of the Dufresne collection bought in 
1818 (see No. 3) and being poor specimens may have been rejected. One half of 
Moule's collection, containing these two eggs, was bought by Mr. Cleghorn Murray. 
At a sale of miscellaneous property belonging to Mr. Murray, in Mr. Dowell's Auction 
Rooms, on 8th May, 1880, these eggs were bought by Mr. Robert Small, a dealer in 
natural history specimens for 32s. They were sold in Stevens' Rooms in the same 
year, 2nd July, and No. 5 was bought by Lord Lilford for £100. Before his death 
in 1896 Lord Lilford gave this egg, together with Nos. 6, 7 and 8, to Professor 
Alfred Newton of Cambridge University who presented them to the University 
Museum. 

EGG No. 6 (PI. 6) 

Grieve's No. 39; Parkin's No. X. Figured by Wolley, Ootheca Wolleyana, 1905, 

2; pi. 18 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

History. Similar to No. 5, with which it was associated during the period of its 
certain history, both, because of their period of French ownership, probably originat- 
ing in Newfoundland. Lord Lilford bought it for £107 2s. at the auction sale at 
Stevens' Rooms on 2nd July, 1880. Before his death in 1896 Lord Lilford gave it 
to Professor Alfred Newton at Cambridge who presented it to the University Museum. 

EGG No. 7 (PI. 7) 
Grieve's No. 40. Figured by Wolley, Ootheca Wolleyana, 1905, 2; pi. ig 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

Remarks. Bears the inscription: No. 61. 

History. It is reported that this egg and No. 65 may have belonged to Levaillant 
who died in 1824, and who may have given them to Professor D. A. Chavannes who 
died about 1846. Chavannes collection lay in the museum at Lausanne and these 
eggs remained without notice until discovered about i860, or possibly later (see 
Wolley, 1905, 2; 378) by the curator Dr. Depierre; this fact was recorded by M. Victor 
Fatio in 1868. The London dealer G. A. Frank saw them there in 1881 or 1883 and 
came to an arrangement with the Curator, Dr. Larguier, to have this specimen 
(inadvertently the better one) in exchange for a gorilla skin and a fine skull and 



102 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

several bones of the Great Auk. Frank sold it to Lord Lilford for £110. Before his 
death in 1896 Lord Lilford presented it to Professor Alfred Newton of Cambridge 
who presented it to the University Museum. 

EGG No. 8 (PL 8) 
Figured by Wolley, Ootheca Wolleyana, 1905, 2; pi. 20 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

History. This egg was originally in the possession of a Middlesex family by 
name of Way (see Grieve 1897: 242). James Way who died in 1816 had some 
connection with the Newfoundland Fisheries. The egg was passed to his son James 
Henry Way whose sister Betty Stone Way inherited it and then gave it, in 1872, to 
Miss Eliza Hill, eldest daughter of Philip Hill, a farmer near Blandford, in whose 
house the egg was kept as an ornament on the mantlepiece. The family was unaware 
of its value. A clergyman, named Walker, saw it and advised him to have it identi- 
fied at the British Museum. He was told by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe that it was an egg 
of the Great Auk and was put in touch with Lord Lilford to whom he sold it for 
£50 on 21st April, 1884. Before his death in 1896 Lord Lilford presented it to 
Professor Alfred Newton of Cambridge who transferred it to the University Museum. 

EGG No. 9 (PL 9) 
Grieve' s No. 41; Figured by Hewitson, Eggs of British Birds, 3rd ed. 1856, 2; pi. 129 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

History. First heard of when in the possession of Leadbeater, a London dealer 
in natural history specimens, who sold it in 1846 for £5 to a Mr. J. P. Wilmot who 
had a collection of natural history specimens. Wilmot died in 1863 and his collection 
was bequeathed to Mr. G. L. Russell, in whose memory it was presented by his 
widow to the University Museum, Cambridge, in i* 



EGG No. 10 (PL 10) 
Grieve' 's No. 48; Figured by Seebohm, History of British Birds, 1885, 3; pi. 40 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Oxford. 

History. First heard of when in the possession of Lady Wilson of Charlton 
House, Blackheath. She gave it to a relative, Sir Walter C. Trevelyan, who had it 
for over forty years. He bequeathed it to Oxford University Museum which acquired 
the egg at his death in 1879. 

EGG No. 11 (PL 11) 
Grieve' s No. 33 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of Anglesey, North Wales. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 103 

History. This egg was discovered in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College 
of Surgeons in London, on 12th December, 1861, by Professor Alfred Newton of 
Cambridge University. It was one of ten Great Auk eggs in a box labelled "Penguin 
Eggs — Dr. Dick". It remained in the College Museum with two others, Nos. 12 
and 13, until the three of them were sold to Captain Hewitt on 19th June, 1946, for 
£1000 through the dealer Rosenberg. Incidentally, the proceeds of this sale went to 
the restoration fund of the museum which had suffered severely during the bombing 
of London in 1941. The three eggs remained in the strong room of the Museum until 
1 8th November 1949. Seven of the original ten eggs had been sold soon after their 
discovery by Professor Newton. Through the agency of Professor Flower three eggs 
were disposed of to Robert Champley of Scarborough in 1864 in exchange for a 
collection of anatomical specimens which Champley had bought for £45. (See Nos. 24, 
25, 26); and four were put up for auction at Stevens' Rooms on nth July, 1865 
(see Nos. 17, 28, 29, 37). 

EGG No. 12 (PI. 12) 
Grieve' s No. 34; Figured by Seebohm, Eggs of British Birds, 1896, pi. 28 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt. 
History. As for No. n. 

EGG No. 13 (PI. 13) 
Grieve' s No. 35; Figured by Seebohm, Eggs of British Birds, 1896, pi. 2j 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt. 
History. As for Nos. n and 12. 

EGG No. 14 (PI. 14) 
Grieve' s No. 30; Figured by Seebohm, History of British Birds, 1885, 3; pi. 41 

Location. City of Liverpool Museums. 

Remarks. This egg is in perfect condition and one of the most beautiful existing. 

History. According to Robert Champley this egg was in the 13th Earl of Derby's 
Museum. At his death in 1851, the egg, together with Derby's collection, was 
presented to the City of Liverpool. Although this Museum was severely damaged 
during the 1939-45 war, the specimen was unharmed. 

EGG No. 15 (PI. 15) 
Grieve' s No. 44; Figured by Hewitson, Coloured Illustrations of the Eggs of British 

Birds, 2nd ed., 1846, pi. 115 

Location. Hancock Museum, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Remarks. Hancock made a cast of this egg. It is also briefly described by 
Passler, Journal fur Ornithologie, i860, p. 59. 



io 4 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

History. Believed to have been taken on the Island of Eldey, Iceland, in the 
period 1830-39 (probably 1831) along with a skin of the Great Auk. This egg appeared 
first in the possession of an apothecary of Flensburgh called Mechlenburg from whom 
it was purchased, through the agency of a Mr. Sewell, by John Hancock in 1844 or 
I845- ' 

EGG No. 16 (PL 16) 
Grieve' s No. 56 

Location. Natural History Museum, Scarborough. 

History. First recorded when the dealer Gardner obtained this egg from a 
collection in Derbyshire which he refused to name. Mr. Alwin Bell bought it from 
Gardner, probably some years previous to 1867. Bell bequeathed it to the Scar- 
borough Philosophical Society, who in turn donated it to the new Natural History 
Museum of Scarborough. In the Daily Telegraph of 29th January, 1906, it was 
reported that the egg was found lying on a chair broken. It was repaired and placed 
in greater security. 

EGG No. 17 (PL 17) 
Grieve's No. 68; Parkin's No. IV. Figured by Parkin, The Great Auk, 1911, pi. 2 

Location. Museum of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, Spalding. 

Remarks. A very fine undamaged specimen. 

History. This is one of ten eggs first recorded in the Hunterian Museum of the 
Royal College of Surgeons {see No. 11) and one of the four eggs sold by auction at 
Stevens' Rooms on nth July, 1865. It was bought by the Rev. G. W. Braikenridge 
of Clevedon, Somerset, for £29. After his death in 1882 it became the property of 
his sister, who sold it on 18th May, 1884, to Mr. Edward Bidwell of Twickenham, in 
whose possession it remained for 27 years. Mr. Thomas Parkin of Hastings, bought 
it from Mr. Bidwell in April 191 1. It came up for sale once more at Stevens' Rooms 
on 13th May, 1931, and was purchased by Mr. Ashley Kay Maples for £265, who 
made a gift of it to the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, of which he was the President 
for many years. 

EGG No. 18 (PL 18) 

Grieve's No. 57; Parkin's No. XXII. Figured by Thienemann, Einhundert Tafeln 
colorirter Abbildungen von Vogeleiren, 1845-54, pi. g6 

Location. Castle Museum, Norwich. 

History. Herr Fr. Schulze of Leipzig received this egg along with others from 
Iceland. He sold it in 1835 to Th. Schulze of Neuhaldensleben, along with some other 
birds' eggs for 7 thalers (then 1 guinea). In 1857 Herr G. H. Kunz of Leipzig bought 
it from him for 50 thalers (then £7 10s.). Kunz sold it to Mr. Robert Champley of 
Scarborough in July 1859 f° r £ T &- I* was one °f n i ne owned by Mr. Champley. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 105 

Some years after Robert Champley's death in 1895 it was acquired by Colonel H. G. 
Barclay of Colney Hall, near Norwich, for his collection. In 1936 Mr. Evelyn 
Barclay presented it to the Castle Museum, Norwich. 

EGG No. 19 (PI. 19) 
Grieve' s No. 58. Figured by F. W. J. Baedeker, Die Eier der Europaeischen Voegel, 

1855-63, pl> 70, no. 3 [top) 

Location. Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut and Museum Alexander Koenig, 
Bonn. 

History. It is recorded with some certainty that Mechlenburg a dealer of 
Flensburg obtained this egg from Iceland together with a skin of the bird which is 
thought to have laid it. Robert Champley of Scarborough bought both from 
Mechlenburg in 1861 for £45. After Champley's death in 1895 his eggs remained in 
the possession of his daughter for several years. They were sold eventually and 
Professor Alexander Koenig of Bonn acquired this one. He died in 1940 and this 
egg together with the other two in his possession, Nos. 21 and 35, went to the 
Museum which bears his name. 

EGG No. 20 (PI. 20) 
Grieve' s No. 60 

Location. British Museum (Natural History), London. 

History. It was found by Robert Champley of Scarborough in the Museum of 
Anatomy of the University of Pavia, Italy, covered with dirt and placed in a wooden 
cup to look like an acorn. It was part of a collection given 100 years previously by 
Professor Spallanzi, a lecturer at the University at that time. Champley bought it 
for 5 napoleons. After Champley's death in 1895 Lord Rothschild acquired it from 
Rutter, Champley's son-in-law, on 1st November, 1901. It was bequeathed by 
Lord Rothschild to the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) who 
received it in 1937. 

EGG No. 21 (PI. 21) 
Grieve 's No. 59 

Location. Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, 
Bonn. 

History. In 1861 Robert Champley of Scarborough visited the French naturalist 
Parzudaki, in Paris and was told of an egg owned by the Abbe de la Motte who had 
obtained it some 40 years earlier from French whalers. Parzudaki bought it for him 
for £24. After Champley's death in 1895, Professor Alexander Koenig bought it 
from Rowland Ward, the London dealer. When Koenig died in 1940 this egg 
together with the other two in his possession, Nos. 19 and 35 went to the Museum 
which bears his name. 



106 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

EGG No. 22 (PI. 22) 

Grieve' s No. 61; Parkin's No. XXI 

Location. Private collection of Major Sir John Stirling, k.t., of Fairburn, 
Ross-shire, Scotland. 

History. First recorded as one of two specimens (see No. 23) in the possession 
of Fairmaire, a dealer in zoological specimens in Paris. It was bought by Rowland 
Ward the London dealer who sold it to Robert Champley of Scarborough for £25 
in 1864. Following Champley's death in 1895 it was put up for sale at Stevens' 
Rooms on 17th April 1902 and bought by William Stirling of Fairburn for £252. 
It then passed to his son, Sir John Stirling. 

EGG No. 23 (PI. 23) 

Grieve' s No. 62. Figured by Thayer, Auk, 1905, 22; pi. 14 (lower): and by Dresser, 
Eggs of the Birds of Europe, 1910, fig. 1 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, 
Mass., U.S.A. 

History. This is the second egg which was in the possession of Fairmaire the 
Paris dealer (see No. 22). Rowland Ward bought it from him and sold it to Robert 
Champley of Scarborough in 1864 for £30. In 1905 it was sold for £200 through 
Rowland Ward of London to Colonel J. E. Thayer of Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A., for 
his private Museum. It passed with the Thayer Collection to the Museum of 
Comparative Zoology, Harvard, in 1931-32. 

EGG No. 24 (PI. 24) 

Grieve' s No. 63. Figured by Thayer, Auk, 1905, 22; pi. 14 (upper): and by Dresser, 
Eggs of the Birds of Europe, 1910, fig. 2 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. 
U.S.A. 

History. One of the ten eggs found by Professor Alfred Newton of Cambridge 
in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London in 1861 (see 
No. 11). Through the agency of Professor Flower of the College, Robert Champley 
of Scarborough acquired this egg in 1864 in exchange for anatomical specimens. In 
1906 the egg was sold for £315 through Rowland Ward of London to Colonel J. E. 
Thayer of Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A. It passed with the Thayer Collection to the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, in 1931-32. 

EGG No. 25 (PI. 25) 
Grieve' s No. 64 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

History. Similar to No. 24. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 107 

EGG No. 26 (PI. 26) 

Grieve' s No. 65. Figured in the Annual Report of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

1906, pi. 2 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

History. Similar to 24 and 25. This egg was bought in 1905 through Rowland 
Ward of London by Harvard University with part of the donation of 5,000 dollars 
given to them by Col. William Barbour of New York. Barbour was father of Dr. 
Thomas Barbour, director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at that time. 

EGG No. 27 (PI. 27) 
Grieve' s No. ig 

Location. British Museum (Natural History), London. 

History. Believed to be one of two eggs collected in Iceland as late as 1844 
and taken to Copenhagen and to have been bought there by J. de Capel Wise about 
185 1. It came into the possession of Williams, a London dealer, who sold it to Canon 
Tristam in 1853 for £35. Philip Crowley of Croydon, Surrey, purchased the whole 
of the Tristam collection including this egg. Finally it reached the British Museum 
(Natural History) in 1937 with the Crowley bequest. 

EGG No. 28 (PI. 28) 
Grieve' s No. 6j; Parkin s No. VI 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of Anglesey, North Wales. 

History. One of the ten eggs of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of 
Surgeons discovered by Professor Alfred Newton of Cambridge in 1861 (see No. 11). 
One of four sold on behalf of the College at Stevens' Rooms, London, on nth July, 
1865, and bought by the Rev. Henry Burney of Woburn, Bedfordshire for £31 10s. 
At a later auction sale at Stevens' Rooms, it was sold to Mr. Leopold Field of 
Harlesden, Middlesex, on 13th December, 1887 for £168. Mr. Herbert Massey of 
Didsbury, Cheshire, through the agency of Marsden, acquired it on 4th September, 
1891, for £220. It was finally bought by Captain Vivian Hewitt from the executors 
of Mr. Massey, about 1939. 

EGG No. 29 (PI. 29) 
Grieve' s No. 37; Parkin's No. VII 

Location. British Museum (Natural History), London. 

History. One of ten eggs found in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College 
of Surgeons in 1861 (see No. n). One of four eggs sold on behalf of the College at 
Stevens' Rooms on nth July, 1865 and bought by Mr. A. W. Crichton of Broadwater 
Hall, Salop for £29. At Crichton's death it passed to Lord Lilford of Oundle, North- 



108 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

amptonshire. It went to the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), 
along with a mounted Great Auk, by bequest in 1949. 

EGG No. 30 (PI. 30) 
Grieve' s No. 54 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of Anglesey, North Wales. 

History. In 1835 or ^AS Mr. John Malcolm bought this egg with a skin of the 
Great Auk from Leadbeater, a London dealer. When Professor Newton enquired 
as to their origin, all Mr. Malcolm could tell him was that he thought they were 
collected on one of the Arctic Expeditions and that he bought them for no more than 
a few pounds. The egg and the skin remained in the Malcolm family until 1948, when 
they were sold, on 2nd July, to Captain Vivian Hewitt. 

EGG No. 31 (PI. 31) 

Grieve's No. 45; Parkin's No. XIV. Figured by Butler, British Birds with their nests 

and eggs, 1896-98, 6, pi. 23, fig. 463 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

Remarks. Exhibited by Edward Bidwell at the meeting of the British Ornitholo- 
gists' Club on 17th April, 1895. It was described as "especially remarkable for the 
pitted nature of its shell". 

History. First recorded in the possession of a Mon. Perrot, a Paris dealer in 
zoological specimens, from whom it was bought by Sir William Milner of Nunapple- 
ton, Yorkshire on 23rd November, 1847 f° r 200 francs (about £8). It passed to his 
successor Sir Frederick Milner who offered it for sale at Stevens' Rooms on 23rd April, 
1895. It was bought for £189 by T. G. Middlebrook, owner of the public house 
"Edinburgh Castle", Camden Town, London, who kept a Museum on the premises 
for the interest of his patrons. At Middlebrook's death the egg was bought on 17th 
January, 1906, through Rowland Ward, by Colonel John E. Thayer of Lancaster, 
Mass.. U.S.A., for £220. It passed with the Thayer collection to the Museum of 
Comparative Zoology, Harvard, in 1931-32. 

EGG No. 32 (PI. 32) 
Grieve's No. 17 : Figured by Wolley, Ootheca Wolleyana, 1905, 2 : pi. 16 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

Remarks. Hancock made a plaster cast in i860. 

History. Regarding the origin of this egg one conjecture is that it came from 
the Island of Eldey, Iceland, about 1841 and went to Hamburg. It was in the 
possession of a Robert Dunn of Hull, Yorkshire, from whom it was bought by a 
Mr. Salmon in 1842. The Salmon collection was bequeathed to the Linnean Society, 
London, but before it was handed over it is thought that a dealer by name of Calvert, 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 109 

who had access to the collection, substituted a suitably marked swan's egg for the 
Great Auk egg (vide Newton in Wolley 1905, 2: 373). Newton bought the egg from 
Calvert in i860 and eventually gave it to the University Museum along with two 
others. (Nos. 33 and 34.) 

EGG No. 33 (PL 33) 

Grieve' s No. 15 : Figured by Wolley, Ootheca Wolleyana, 1905, 2 : pi. 14 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

History. Believed to be one of a number of Great Auk eggs obtained by Herr 
Brandt, a Hamburg dealer from the Island of Eldey, Iceland, in 1835. Wolley records 
(1905, 2: 365) that Brandt obtained eggs from Iceland through a Carl Sieman of 
Reykjavik. Sold by Brandt to John Gould on 6th September, 1835, for about £1 3s. 4d 
(Records vary between £1 8s. and £1 16s.) Gould sold it to the Rev. D. Barclay 
Bevan of Burton Latimer, near Higham Ferrers, on 1st November, 1836, for £1 8s. 
Barclay Bevan sold it to John Wolley on 12th December, 1846 for the same price. 
While in Wolley 's possession it was sent to J. Hancock for copying on 22nd February, 
1858 and returned on 25th March of the same year. At Wolley's death in 1859 his 
collection including this egg and No. 34 passed to the brothers Alfred and Edward 
Newton. Alfred Newton gave it to the University Museum. 

EGG No. 34 (PL 34) 
Grieve' s No. 16; Figured by Wolley, Ootheca Wolleyana, 1905, 2; pi. 15 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

Remarks. Hancock made a plaster cast in 1858. 

History. It is believed that it may have come from the Island of Eldey, Iceland, 
prior to 1837, an d may have passed through the hands of a Hamburg dealer. The 
first owner was traced as Augustus Mason, to whom this egg had been given, when 
he was at school, by an unknown lady. From Augustus Mason it passed to his 
brother Alfred, who gave it to a school friend called Thomas E. Davies, who in turn 
gave it to another school friend called Alfred Dudley. Dudley parted with it some- 
time between 1840 and 1845, giving it, along with other eggs, to a nephew, William 
Bree, son of a Warwickshire naturalist. Bree gave it to Mr. J. P. Wilmot of Leaming- 
ton who gave it in exchange (with Bree's permission) to John Wolley in 1856 (see 
Wolley, 1905, 2; 367). At Wolley's death in 1859 this e gg along with No. 33 went 
to the brothers Alfred and Edward Newton; and finally from Alfred Newton to the 
University Museum. 

EGG No. 35 (PL 35) 
Grieve' s No. 18 

Location. Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, 
Bonn. 



no P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

Remarks. Damaged at both ends with a very large hole at the blunt end. 

History. First known to have been in the possession of the family of Mr. E. 
Burgh for over 70 years. Burgh sold it to Mr. Rocke of Aston on Clun, Shropshire, 
in 1869. On 14th January, 1920 it was sold by Rowland Ward to Professor Alexander 
Koenig for £200. At Koenig's death in 1940 this egg and the other two in his posses- 
sion, Nos. 19 and 21 went to the Museum which bears his name. 

EGG No. 36 (PI. 36) 

Grieve's No. 8; Figured by Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vogel MiUeleuropas, 

1897-1905, pi. 12, fig. 1 

Location. British Museum (Natural History), London. 

History. It is believed that this egg originated from Iceland and was once in 
the possession of Herr Brandt, a naturalist dealer of Hamburg, some time between 
1835 an d 1839, and that he sold it to a rich senator of that city whose collection was 
eventually bought by Schulz, a dealer in Leipzig. Schulz sold it to Herr Hxihnel, 
a barber in Leipzig, for it is said 7 thalers (about £1 is.). Some time before Huhnel's 
death, probably about 1870, Count Rodern of Breslau bought it from him for 200 
thalers (about £30). In about March 1889, the Hon. Walter Rothschild acquired it 
with Count Rodern's collection. It was bequeathed to the Trustees of the British 
Museum (Natural History) in 1937 by Lord Rothschild. 

EGG No. 37 (PL 37) 

Grieve's No. 9; Parkin's No. V 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of Bryn Aber, Anglesey, 
North Wales. 

History. One of ten eggs found by Professor Alfred Newton in the Hunterian 
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons and one of four of these sold by auction at 
Stevens' Rooms on nth July, 1865 (see No. n). It was bought by John Gould for 
G. Dawson Rowley of Brighton for £33. At Dawson Rowley's death it passed to his 
son G. Fydell Rowley, whose executors put it up for auction again at Stevens' Rooms 
on 14th November, 1934, where it was bought by Captain Vivian Hewitt for £315. 

EGG No. 38 (PI. 38) 
Grieve's No. 10 

Location. Not known. 

Remarks. This egg was not properly blown and the pointed end is broken leaving 
jagged edges. 

History. It is said that this egg originally belonged to Captain Cook. It was in 
the possession of John Gould who sold it to G. Dawson Rowley of Brighton on 
16th March, 1863. At his death it passed to his son G. Fydell Rowley whose executors 
put it up for auction at Stevens' Rooms on 14th November, 1934, where it was 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK m 

bought by Sir Bernard Eckstein of Wickfield, Sussex, for £273. It was sold in 1947 
but we have been unable to trace who bought it. Sir Bernard Eckstein died on 
10th May, 1948. 

EGG No. 39 (PL 39) 

Grieve' s No. 11 

Location. Presumed to be in the private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt 
of Anglesey, North Wales. 

Remarks. This egg was badly damaged and was crudely repaired by Yarrell. 

History. First known to have been in the possession of Leadbeater, a London 
dealer, who sold it to Mr. J. P. Wilmot for his collection. According to Wilmot it 
was imperfect and was restored by Yarrell. Wilmot gave it to Mr. Bourman Labrey 
of Manchester who sold it on 21st October, 1871, to G. Dawson Rowley. At his 
death it went to his son G. Fydell Rowley. On 14th November, 1934, it was auctioned 
at Stevens' Rooms and bought by the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain for £147. The Jourdain 
collection was dispersed, this egg being purchased by Captain Hewitt, in whose 
possession it is presumed to be now. 

EGG No. 40 (PI. 40) 
Grieve 's No. 12 

Location. Presumed to be in the private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of 
Anglesey, North Wales. 

Remarks. An egg which bears hardly any markings. 

History. First recorded as hanging with other sea birds eggs on a string outside 
a shop in Paris. It was bought by William Yarrell for Lady Cust for the sum of 
5 francs. Then G. Dawson Rowley acquired it in 1878 shortly before his death. It 
passed into the hands of his son G. Fydell Rowley and was then auctioned at Stevens' 
Rooms on 14th November, 1934 when it was bought by the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain 
for £220 10s. On the dispersal of the Jourdain collection it was bought by Captain 
Hewitt. 

EGG No. 41 (PI. 41) 
Grieve's No. 13; Parkin's No. I 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of Anglesey, North Wales. 

Remarks. Still visible on this egg is the inscription "330A No. 1" written by 
Lord Garvagh. 

History. The French Vicomte de Barde owned this egg for some 30 years, with 
two others {see No. 42 and 46). In 1825 his collection went to the Boulogne Museum. 
In 1852 the Curator of the museum exchanged this egg and the other two for an 
ostrich skin with James Gardner a dealer in London. Soon after their arrival in 
London they were bought by T. H. Potts. This egg was purchased for Lord Garvagh 



H2 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

for £30 on 24th May, 1853. After the death of Lord Garvagh in 1871, it was sold to 
G. Dawson Rowley on 7th April, 1873. Like Nos. 37, 39, 40, it was sold to Captain 
Vivian Hewitt on 14th November, 1934, at Stevens' Rooms, fetching £315. 

EGG No. 42 (PL 42) 
Grieve' s No. 14; Parkin's No. II 

Location. Private collection of Mr. R. Krenger of Helsinki, Finland. 

Remarks. This egg was damaged at both ends and subsequently repaired. 
(It is said that it was dropped by one of Lord Garvagh's footmen.) 

History. Like Nos. 41 and 46 it was first known in the collection of the Vicomte 
de Barde in the late eighteenth century where it remained for some 30 years. It 
passed with his egg collection to the Boulogne Museum in 1825. In 1852 the Curator 
exchanged it together with the other two Great Auk eggs, for an ostrich skin, with 
James Gardner, the dealer in London. T. H. Potts bought it from Gardner along 
with Nos. 41 and 46. On 24th May, 1853, Potts offered it for sale, like No. 41, at 
Stevens' Rooms but bought it in for £29. It was put up for sale again on 7th April, 
1854, an d was bought by Lord Garvagh for £20. After the death of Lord Garvagh, 
in 1871, this egg and No. 41 went to G. Dawson Rowley. At the sale held at Stevens' 
Rooms on 14th November, 1934, it was bought by G. N. Carter of Wolseley Place, 
Manchester for £105. Some time after Carter's death in July 1956 it became the 
property of Mr. R. Kreuger of Helsinki, Finland. 

EGG No. 43 (PI. 43) 
Grieve' s No. 55; Parkin's No. XI. Figured by Parkin, The Great Auk, 1911, pi. 3 

Location. The City Museum, Bristol. 

History. This egg was first heard of in the possession of Mon. Theibaut de 
Berneaud of Paris. Then Lefevre, a Paris dealer, sold it to Williams a London 
dealer. On 6th October, 1851, it was bought from Williams for £18 by Mr. Lancelot 
Holland who gave it to his daughter, Mrs. Henry Wise of Brockham, near Reigate, 
and subsequently of Charlton Court, Steyning, near Brighton. On 12th March, 1888 
it was bought at Stevens' Rooms by James Gardner, the dealer, for £225. He sold 
it to Sir J. H. Greville Smyth of Ashton Court, Somerset, it is said for £315. At his 
death in 1901 Lady Greville Smyth presented it to the City Museum, Bristol, 
together with the rest of his egg collection. 

EGG No. 44 (PI. 44) 
Grieve' s No. 2$; Parkin's No. XVI. Figured by Thayer, The Auk, 1912, 29; pi. 12 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

Remarks. There is a small fracture on one side. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 113 

History. The first known owner was Friedrich Schultz of Dresden, Saxony, who 
sold it on 23rd May, 1841, to Hugh Reid of Doncaster for £2 6s., some say, £5. Reid 
sold it to Mr. James Hack Tuke of Hitchin, Herts, prior to 1856 for it is referred to 
by Hewitson (1856) as being in Tuke's possession. Mr. Tuke lent it to the Walden 
Museum, whose Curator, then a Mr. Maynard, made a cast of it. After the death of 
Mr. Tuke, it was sold by his executors, by auction at Stevens' Rooms on 20th April, 
1896. Mr. Heatly Noble purchased it for Mr. William Newall, 27 Hans Place, 
London, for £168. In January, 1912, it was purchased by Rowland Ward for Colonel 
J. E. Thayer of Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A. Like all the other Great Auk eggs owned 
by Colonel Thayer, it went with the rest of his egg collection to Harvard College 
Museum in 1931-32. 

EGG No. 45 (PI. 45) 
Grieve' s No. 4g. Figured in the Report of the Castle Museum, Norwich, igio 
Location. Castle Museum, Norwich. 

History. It is said to be Icelandic in origin. First recorded in the possession of 
Herr Brandt, a Hamburg dealer, from whom it was bought by Dr. Pitman. About 
1850 Pitman sold it with the rest of his collection to Henry Walter of Pappewick, 
Nottinghamshire. Later it was bought by James Reeve, Curator of the Castle 
Museum, Norwich. On his retirement in 1910 he presented it to the Museum. 

EGG No. 46 (PI. 46) 

Grieve' s No. 46; Parkin's No. XVII. Figured by Butler, British Birds with their nests 

and eggs, 1896-98, 6; pi. 23, fig. 464 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

History. One of three eggs once owned by the Vicomte de Barde (see Nos. 41 
and 42) and which in 1825 went with his collection to the Boulogne Museum. In 
1852 the Curator exchanged the three eggs for an ostrich skin with James Gardner 
a dealer in London. All three were bought by Mr. T. H. Potts who sold the other 
two but kept this one and took it with him to New Zealand. After his death 
in 1888 it was left to his widow in Christchurch. In 1891 it was purchased by Mr. 
Henry O. Forbes, then Curator of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, it was 
said for a friend in England. It returned there for it was next recorded in the 
collection of Mr. Leopold Field of London, who subsequently sold it to Rowland 
Ward. On 13th April, 1897, it was put up for sale by auction at Stevens' Rooms 
and was purchased by Mr. T. G. Middlebrook of the "Edinburgh Castle", Camden 
Town, London, for £294. (Mr. Middlebrook kept a "Free Museum" in his public 
house for the entertainment of his patrons. At one time he owned four Great Auk 
eggs.) In January 19 12 Rowland Ward re-purchased this egg from Mr. Middlebrook 
for Colonel Thayer of Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A., who finally presented it with his egg 
collection to the Harvard College Museum in 1931-32. 



114 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

EGG No. 47 (PL 47) 
Grieve' s No. 26 

Location. University Museum of Zoology, Copenhagen. 

History. Nothing is known of its history. In a letter dated 4th February, 1885, 
Professor J. Steenstrup stated to Symington Grieve that this was the only egg of 
the Great Auk known to be in Copenhagen. 



EGG No. 48 (PI. 48) 
Grieve' 's No. 2 

Location. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Angers, France. 

Remarks. Badly damaged and reconstructed in plaster at one end. 

History. According to Professor Blasius it was one of four Great Auk eggs on 
a string seen in a shop at Brest in 1859. O n I2tn May, 1862, it was bought by Mon. 
A. Boreau, then Curator of the Angers Museum. 

EGG No. 49 (PI. 49) 
Grieve 's No. 50 

Location. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 

Remarks. This egg has two circular bands less faded than the rest indicating 
that it must have been mounted and on show for a long time. The surface of the egg 
is also partly covered with some sort of varnish giving it a shiny appearance. 

History. All that is known about this egg prior to its entry into the Paris 
Museum is that sometime in the eighteenth century it belonged to the Abbe Manesse. 

EGG No. 50 (PI. 50) 
Grieve' 's No. 31 

Location. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 

Remarks. Bears the inscription, partly faded, "St. Pierre-Miquelon". 

History. The inscription on the egg suggests that it originated in the New 
World, probably Newfoundland. This egg and No. 51 were discovered in the Lycee 
de Versailles in December 1873. 

EGG No. 51 (PI. 51) 
Grieve' s No. $2 

Location. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 
History. Similar to No. 50. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 115 

EGG No. 52 (PL 52) 

Grieve' s No. 43; Parkin's No. III. Figured by Hewitson, Eggs of British Birds, 1846, 
3; pi. 145, fig. 1, and by d'Hamonville, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 1888, 1; pi. 5, fig. A 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt, Bryn Aber, Anglesey, 
North Wales. 

History. The Baron Louis d'Hamonville, who later acquired this egg, saw it in 
William Yarrell's collection in 1851. He recorded (1888: 225) that Yarrell assured 
him "it is an English egg" by which he understood that it had originated in the 
Orkneys or Hebrides. Other reports are that Yarrell discovered it in a fisherman's 
cottage at Boulogne (Grieve, 1885: 105), or in a curiosity shop in Paris (Grieve, 
1897: 250) and bought it for a few francs. At Yarrell's death it was auctioned at 
Stevens' Rooms on 5th December, 1856, and was bought by James Gardner for 
Mr. Frederick Bond of Kingsbury, Middlesex, for £21. It was later sold to the 
Baron Louis d'Hamonville of Meurthe et Moselle, France, in 1875, through the 
agency of Mon. Dubois of Paris. On 22nd February, 1894, it again appeared at 
Stevens' Rooms where it was bought by Sir Vauncey Crewe of Calke Abbey, Derby- 
shire, for £315. This was the record price, up to that time, for a Great Auk egg. 
Again it was offered for sale at Stevens' Rooms on 15th December, 1925, and bought 
by a Mr. Hirch for £320 5s. The next owner was Commander A. T. Wilson, of Garth 
House, Garth, Breconshire. In 1934 F. G. Lupton of London acquired it for £305. 
At his death, his collection was bought and sold again by the firm of Gowland, this 
egg becoming the property of Captain Vivian Hewitt. 



EGG No. 53 (PI- 53) 
Grieve' s No. 3, 4, or 5; Parkin's No. XX. Figured by d'Hamonville, Mem. Soc. Zool 

France, 1888, 1; pi. 5, fig. D 

Location. Private collection of J. W. Tomkinson of Trimpley, Worcestershire. 

History. In 1855 the Baron Henri de Veze purchased it from the Paris dealer 
Parzudaki for 500 francs. In 1858 the Comte Raoul de Barace of Angers acquired 
it through the agency of Fairmaire of Paris. After the Comte's death, it was sold, 
with his collection, to the Baron Louis d'Hamonville in March 1887, making his 
number of Great Auk eggs four. {See also Nos. 52, 54, and 55.) After his death it 
was offered for sale at Stevens' Rooms on 29th October, 1901, where it was purchased by 
Mr. Herbert Massey of Ivy Lea, Burnage, Didsbury, Cheshire for £252. On 13th 
February, 1901, Edward Bidwell had exhibited this egg at the meeting of the British 
Ornitholigist's Club on behalf of Mr. Henry Stevens. In December 1939, Gerald 
Tomkinson of Wolverley, Worcestershire, purchased it from H. Massey 's executors, 
through the agency of Mr. G. H. Lings, for £400. With it he obtained also a set of 
photographs of 69 Great Auk eggs taken by Edward Bidwell, together with the list 
of 71 eggs he published in 1892. At the death of Gerald Tomkinson in 1959 it 
passed to his son, John W. Tomkinson. 



n6 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

EGG No. 54 (PL 54) 
Grieve 's No. 3, 4 or 5; Parkin's No. XV. Figured in Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 1 

pl.6,fig.C 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

Remarks. This egg is slightly cracked but noted for its beautiful pale green 
markings and blotches. 

History. Believed to have been taken in Iceland about 1830 and brought to 
France by a ship owner of St. Malo. He bequeathed it to Comte Raoul de Barace 
of Angers. At his death it was purchased with his collection by the Baron Louis 
d'Hamonville in March 1887 along with Nos. 53 and 55. On 25th June, 1895 it was 
sold by auction at Stevens' Rooms to Jay & Co., fur merchants of London for £173 5s. 
Again it was offered for sale at the same place on 27th June, 1897 and was purchased 
by T. G. Middlebrook of the public house "Edinburgh Castle", Camden Town, 
London, for his museum, for the sum of £168. It was afterwards obtained by Colonel 
J. E. Thayer of Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A. through Rowland Ward, in 1905 for £200. In 
1931-32 it went to the Harvard College Museum with Colonel Thayer's collection. 



EGG No. 55 (PL 55) 
Grieve's No. 3, 4, or 5; Parkin's No. XVIII. Figured in Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 

I, PL 6, fig. B 



Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

History. Similar to No. 54 up to 19th July, 1899, when Baron Louis d'Hamon- 
ville offered it for sale by auction at Stevens' Rooms. It was bought by T. G. 
Middlebrook of the public house "Edinburgh Castle", Camden Town, for the sum 
of £315. In 1906 Rowland Ward bought this egg for £110 on behalf of Colonel John 
Thayer, Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A. In 1931-32 this egg, with Thayer's collection, 
became the property of Harvard College Museum. 



EGG No. 56 (PL 56) 
Grieve's No. 6 or 7 

Location. Believed to be in the private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of 
Anglesey, North Wales. 

History. This egg and No. 57 were brought by the Captain of a whaling vessel, 
probably from Newfoundland, and given to a merchant in Bergues, France, who in 
turn gave them to a young man starting an egg collection. After his death the whole 
egg collection was bought by Mon. de Meezemaker, and then about 1900 it was sold 
to Mon. Alfred Vaucher of Lausanne. His son, Jacques Vaucher, remembers selling 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 117 

it in March 1937 to an Englishman who, from the description he gives of him and 
of his special interest in eggs of the birds of prey, seems to be Captain Vivian Hewitt. 

We have been unable to get confirmation from Captain Hewitt that the egg is in his 
possession. 

EGG No. 57 (PL 57) 

Grieve' s No. 6 or 7 

Location. Private possession of Mon. Heim de Balzac of 34 Rue Hamelin, Paris. 

History. Similar to No. 56 except that Mon. de Meezemaker sold it to Mon. 
Heim de Balsac in 1924 for 8,000 francs (about £100). 

EGG No. 58 (PL 58) 
Grieve 's No. 20; Parkin's No. XXIII 

Location. The University, Aberdeen, Natural History Department. 

Remarks. When exhibited at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club on 
17th June, 1908, by Mr. E. Bidwell, it was shown that this egg bore the inscription 
"Pingouin", which is believed to have been written by Mon. Dufresne, keeper of the 
King's Cabinet in Paris in the early nineteenth century. 

History. Possibly at one time in the French Royal collections {see Remarks). 
From 1847 to 1863 known to have been in the collection of Mon. J. Hardy of Dieppe, 
a ship owner and distinguished ornithologist, to whom it is thought it may have 
been given by Temminck as a token of gratitude for some service. After Hardy's 
death it became the property of his son Michel who apparently lent it to the Dieppe 
Museum, where his father had already deposited his collection of birds. Michel 
Hardy's daughter Madame Ussel of Eu later must have become the owner for she had 
it put up for sale at Stevens' Rooms in London on 9th February, 1909, when it was 
bought by Mr. R. Hay Fenton of Lombard Street, London. On nth March, 1909, 
Mr. Hay Fenton presented it to the Natural History Department of Aberdeen 
University. 

EGG No. 59 (PL 59) 

Grieve' s No. 21; Figured in Thienemann, Einhundert Tafeln coloriter Abbildungen 

von Vogeleiern, 1845-54, pi. IV c (i.e. g6): and by Naumann, Naturgeschichte der 

Vogel Mitteleuropas, 1897-1905, pi. 12, fig. 4 

Location. Not known. 

History. Once in the possession of Fredk. Thienemann of Dresden and then in 
the Staatliches Museum fur Tierkunde, Dresden. This Museum was badly damaged 
during the 1939-45 war and it has not been possible to find out what happened to 
the egg. It is believed to have been among the precious objects stored in twelve 
big cases in the historic fortress of Konigheim. These cases disappeared following 
the Russian occupation. 



n8 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

EGG No. 60 (PI. 60) 

Grieve's No. 47; Figured by Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitteleuropas, 

1897-1905,^/. 12, fig. 2 

Location. Museum of Natural History, Oldenburg, East Germany. 

History. Little is known about this egg and what has become of it. Believed to 
have been in the collection of Dr. Graba of Kiel, whose collection went to the Grand 
Ducal Museum, Oldenburg, about 1839. It was photographed there by Edward 
Bidwell about 1892. On the authority of Dr. E. Stresemann of Berlin it is still in 
the Museum at Oldenberg. 

EGG No. 61 (PI. 61) 

Grieve's No. 22. Figured by Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitteleuropas, 

1897-1905, pi. 12, fig. 3 

Location. Museum Lobbeckeanum, Dusseldorf, West Germany. 

Remarks. This egg was cracked but skilfully repaired. 

History. Fredk. Thienemann of Dresden bought it from Perrot, a Paris dealer, 
in 1846, for 100 francs (about £4), for Fredk. Lobbecke of Rotterdam, who died on 
29th February, 1856. It was inherited, along with his egg collection, by his nephew 
Th. Lobbecke of Duisburg who added it to his private collection which became the 
Museum Lobbeckeanum at Dusseldorf. 

EGG No. 62 (PI. 62) 

Grieve's No. 1 

Location. Zoologisch Museum, Amsterdam, Holland. 

History. This egg and No. 63 were in the possession of the Royal Museum of 
Natural History, Leiden (now State Museum of Natural History), whose director in 
i860, H. Schlegel, stated that they were procured from a French whaler early in the 
century. A Mr. G. A. Frank of London told Symington Grieve in 1885 that he 
believed both had been in the possession of his father or grandfather who sold them 
to Temminck. Some time between 1840 and 1845 Temminck gave this egg in 
exchange to Dr. Westerman of the Leiden Museum. In 1859 the director at that 
time H. Schlegel, stated that the egg was presented to the Royal Zoological Society 
of Amsterdam. This society maintained a Zoological Gardens and a Museum. The 
latter became incorporated into the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam. 

EGG No. 63 (PI. 63) 
Grieve's No. 28 

Location. State Museum of Natural History, Leiden, Holland. 

History. Like No. 62 it is believed that this egg was brought to Europe in a 
whaler, probably from Newfoundland. It is recorded as having been in the possession 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 119 

of a Mr. Frank of London who sold it to Temminck, in whose collection it must have 
been before 1820. From Temminck it went to the Museum in Leiden. 



EGG No. 64 (PI. 64) 
Grieve 's No. 29 

Location. Bocage Museum, Lisbon, Portugal. 

History. There is a tradition that this egg was brought from a Museum in Italy 
by one of the kings of Portugal, and offered to the Museum in Lisbon about the 
middle of the nineteenth century. It came to light among the contents of the museum 
in 1884. 

EGG No. 65 (PI. 65) 

Grieve' s No. 27 

Location. Zoological Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland. 

History. This egg and No. 7 are believed to have belonged to Levaillant, who 
died in 1824, and then probably to Professor D. A. Chavannes, who died about 1846. 
It is thought that the town of Lausanne acquired it with Professor Chavannes' 
collection. It was found in the Museum with the other egg by the curator, Dr. 
Depierre, about i860. (For fuller notes see No. 7.) 

EGG No. 66 (PI. 66) 
Grieve' s No. 53. Figured by des Murs, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1863, pi. 2 

Location. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, U.S.A. 

History. This egg and No. 67 were once in the possession of Mon. des Murs who 
bought eggs for his collection from Paris dealers. He recorded (1863: 4) that he 
bought one from Launoy on the 3rd of June, 1830, for 5 francs and the other from 
Bevalet on 10th May, 1833, for 3 francs. His collection, including these two eggs, 
was purchased in 1849 by Dr. Thomas Wilson of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 
Philadelphia. When received, no mention was made of any specific egg but an entry 
in an old catalogue appears as "No. 1214 Alca Impennis Linn, Arctic Europe, des 
Murs 2". One of these eggs, No. 67, was later sent to the Smithsonian Institute. 
Mon. des Murs stated (1863 : 5) that he possessed three eggs of the Great Auk, but the 
existence of a third has been questioned (Grieve, 1897: 264). Whether there ever 
was a third egg and if it ever reached the Academy is not possible to prove but it is 
interesting to mention that Mr. James A. G. Rehn, Curator of Entomology at the 
Academy, remembers, in his early days, seeing fragments of a Great Auk egg. When 
later Cassin talked to Professor Newton he only mentioned two eggs. Possibly if 
the third had been broken in transit he may not have felt it worth mentioning or 
cataloguing. This egg was not photographed by Bidwell and those shown have been 
kindly presented by the Academy of Natural Sciences. 



120 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

EGG No. 67 (PI. 67) 
Grieve 's No. 66. Figured by Des Murs, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1863, pi. 1 

Location. Smithsonian Institute, United States National Museum, Washington, 
D.C. 

Remarks. This egg had been damaged at one end and repaired. 

History. One of the Des Murs eggs (see No. 66). Transferred from the Academy 
of Natural Sciences Philadelphia to the Smithsonian Institute. It was not photo- 
graphed by E. Bidwell and the one shown here was presented by the Smithsonian 
Institute. 



EGG No. 68 (PL 68) 
Parkin's No. XXIV 

Location. Not known. 

History. Originally in a large collection of Natural history specimens belonging 
to Mr. W. Shepherd of Bristol and labelled as a penguin egg ; it remained unrecognised 
as a Great Auk egg for a long time, not being recorded by Symington Grieve in 1885. 
In 1820 the Shepherd collection was bought by the grandfather of a Mr. S. E. Shirley 
of Stratford-on-Avon, whose property it eventually became. The egg came up for 
sale at Stevens' Rooms on 7th June, 1910, when it was bought by Mr. E. L. Ambrecht 
of Grosvenor Square, London, for £262 10s. It was offered for sale again at Stevens' 
Rooms on 21st November, 1912, when it was bought by Rowland Ward for £231. 
Unfortunately the records of this firm were destroyed by fire during the second world 
war and it is not known what became of the egg. 



EGG No. 69 (PI. 69) 
Parkin's No. XII 

Location. Private collection of Captain Vivian Hewitt of Anglesey, North 
Wales. 

History. This egg and No. 70 are first known to have been owned by a Mr. 
Hulkes, a brewer, who had them from his grandfather. They were offered for sale by 
auction at the Little Hermitage, Higham, nr. Rochester, on 14th March, 1894, and 
bought by Mr. Wallace Hewett of Newington for thirty-six shillings. He is said to 
have been unaware of their value and carried them home in his handkerchief. After 
this treatment it is not surprising that both eggs suffered some damage. They were 
identified as Great Auk eggs by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe of the British Museum 
(Natural History) and were offered for sale at Stevens' Rooms on 24th April, 1894. 
This egg was bought by Herbert Massey of Didsbury, Cheshire, for £273. At his 
death it was bought by Captain Hewitt. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 121 

EGG No. 70 (PI. 70) 
Parkin's No. XIII 

Location. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
U.S.A. 

History. Similar to No. 69 until sold at Stevens' Rooms on 24th April, 1894, 
when it was bought by Mr. Henry Munt of Kensington, London, for £183 15s. 
Shortly after it was acquired by Mr. Edward Bidwell who first collected information 
on the eggs known at that time. The egg was again put up for sale on 20th June, 
1900, at Stevens' Rooms and went to James Gardner, a dealer, for £189, who 
presumably disposed of it to Sir J. H. Greville Smythe of Ashton Court, Somerset. 
It was not long in his possession for he died and once again it came up for sale at 
Stevens' Rooms on 17th April, 1912, where it fetched £157, being purchased by 
Rowland Ward for Colonel John Thayer of Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A. It was finally 
presented with his egg collection to the Harvard College Museum in 1931-32. 

EGG No. 71 (PI. 71) 
Grieves No. 36; Parkin's No. VIII 

Location. Private collection of Sir John Stirling, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire. 

History. The first-known record of this egg is its purchase by A. D. Bartlett in 
about 1838 from either a Mr. Dunn or a Mr. Hoy. In 1842 it was sold to a Mr. E. 
Maunde for £2. Bartlett re-purchased it about 1851. Then in 1852 it was sold to 
Dr. Nathaniel Troughton for £5. On 27th April, 1869, it was sold to the second 
Lord Garvagh, Garvagh Hall, Londonderry for £64. It then passed to Lady Garvagh 
in 1871 and to her daughter the Hon. Emmeline R. Canning in 1891. At her death 
on 19th February, 1898, the egg was found at her residence in London by Mr. J. E. 
Harting, Secretary of the Linnaean Society, and on 17th April of the same year it 
was purchased by Mr. Heatley Noble of Henley-on-Thames. On 19th May, 1904, 
it appeared at Stevens' Rooms when it was bought in at £200, and again on 16th 
March, 1905, when it was purchased by William Stirling of Muir of Ord for £210. 
Finally it passed to his son Sir John Stirling. 

EGG No. 72 (PL 72) 
Parkin's No. XIX 

Location. Museum of Natural History, Reykjavik, Iceland. 

Remarks. This egg has large holes at both ends. 

History. Nothing is known about this egg until it was in the possession of Sir 
Greville Smythe. It is thought that he obtained it through the dealer Gardner who 
had bought an unrecorded egg from a French collection at Stevens' Rooms on 20th 
June, 1900, for £330 15s. Sir Greville Smythe died in 1901 and his widow Lady 
Emily offered it for sale at Stevens' Rooms on 17th April, 1912 when it was purchased 



122 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

by Rowland Ward for Colonel John Thayer of Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A. for £147. 
In 1931-32 it went with the Thayer collection to the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 
Harvard. Then in 1954 it was sold to its present owners. 

EGG No. 73 (PI. 73) 

Location. Private collection of M. le Marquis de Tristan, Clery St. Andre, 
France. 

Remarks. When discovered the egg was badly fractured at 1^ inches from the 
smaller end, but the Comte de Tristan had it skilfully repaired. It is described as 
having a pale yellow ground colour, the large end being well covered with dark 
markings. When Bidwell saw it there was a faded inscription "Pingouin". 

History. In the records of his collection, which he made in 1935, the previous 
Marquis de Tristan, who died in 1944, stated that the egg was brought from Scotland 
by an ancestor before 1820. This egg remained unrecorded until it was first men- 
tioned in the Revue Francaise d'Ornithologie for April 1913, by the Comte de Tristan 
who stated that he found the egg in a cupboard at his Chateau de rEmerillon which 
had not been opened for many years. Apparently the egg belonged to the Comte's 
great-grandfather who travelled a great deal and brought home many interesting 
specimens. He died in January 1861 and his herbarium, specimens and manuscripts 
remained untouched until 1910. 

EGG No. 74 (PI. 74) 

Location. City Museum, Bristol. 

History. Apparently the egg was purchased many years ago by Sir Greville 
Smythe of Bristol with a number of other sea-bird eggs. When he died in 1901 the 
egg came into the possession of his daughter the Hon. Esme Smythe who in 1945 
donated it to the Bristol Museum in memory of Dr. H. Bolton, Director of the 
Museum for many years. 

EGG No. 75 (PI. 75) 
Location. American Museum of Natural History, New York. 

History. Very little is known about this egg. It was in the possession of a 
Mr. P. B. Philip, owner of a most extensive collection of eggs, mainly North American, 
who presented this collection to the American Museum of Natural History in 1937. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 



123 



Appendix "A" 
Comparison by Countries of Private and Museum Owned Eggs. 



Year 


1892 with additions to 


1900 


Year 


1965 




Country 


Museums 


Private 


Museums 


Private 


Great Britain 


16 


34 


26 




15 


U.S.A. 


2 




13 




— 


France 


4 


7 


4 




2 


Germany- 


2 


1 


5 




— 


Holland 


2 


— 


2 




— 


Denmark 


1 


— 


1 




— 


Switzerland 


1 


— 


1 




— 


Portugal 


1 


— 


1 




— 


Iceland 


— 


— 


1 




— 


Finland 


— 


— 


— 




1 


Total 


29 


42 


54 




18 



It has not been possible to trace the present whereabouts of three eggs recorded in Bidwell's 
List of 1892 which are omitted from the above figures for 1965. These are: — 
No. 38 Sir Bernard Eckstein (Owner up to 1947) 

No. 59 Dresden (Lost in 1939-45 War) 

No. 68 Rowland Ward (Records lost in 1939-45 War) 

Grieve No. 42 was destroyed by fire in 1872. 



124 



P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 



Appendix "B" 
Bidwell List of Owners of Great Auk Eggs 1892 and additions to 1900 



2. 



9- 
10. 
11. 
12. 

13- 

14. 

15- 
16. 

17- 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 

23- 
24. 

25- 

26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30- 

3i- 

32. 
3? 
34- 
35- 

36. 

37- 
38. 
39- 



British Museum, Natural History, 40 

Cromwell Road, London. 41 

British Museum, Natural History, 42 

Cromwell Road, London. 43 

Museum of Science and Art, 

Edinburgh. 44 

Museum of Science and Art, 45 

Edinburgh. 46 

University Museum, Cambridge. 47 

University Museum, Cambridge. 
University Museum, Cambridge. 48 

University Museum, Cambridge. 49 

University Museum, Cambridge. 50 

University Museum, Oxford. 51 

Royal College of Surgeons, London. 52 

Royal College of Surgeons, London. 53 

Royal College of Surgeons, London. 54 

Derby Museum, Liverpool. 55 

Natural History Museum, 56 

Ne wcastle-on-Tyne . 
Philosophical Society's Museum, 57 

Scarborough. 
Mr. Edward Bidwell, Twickenham. 58 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 59 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 60 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 61 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 62 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 63 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 64 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 65 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 66 

Mr. Robert Champley, Scarborough. 
Mr. Philip Crowley, Waddon, Surrey. 67 

Mr. Herbert Massey, Didsbury, Lanes. 68 

Lord Lilford, Lilford Hall, Northants. 
Mr. John Malcolm, Poltallock, 69 

Argyllshire. 70 

Sir Frederick Milner, Nunappleton, 

Yorks. 71. 

Prof. Newton, Cambridge. 
Prof. Newton, Cambridge. 
Prof. Newton, Cambridge. 
Mr. John C. L. Rocke, Clungunford, 

Salop. 
Hon. Walter Rothschild, Tring Park, 

Herts. 
Mr. G. Fydell Rowley, Brighton. 
Mr. G. Fydell Rowley, Brighton. 
Mr. G. Fydell Rowley, Brighton. 



Mr. G. Fydell Rowley, Brighton. 
Mr. G. Fydell Rowley, Brighton. 
Mr. G. Fydell Rowley, Brighton. 
Sir Greville Smythe, Ashton Court, 

Somerset. 
Mr. James H. Tuke, Hitchin, Herts. 
Mr. Henry Walter, Papplewick, Notts. 
Mr. Leopold Field, London. 
Royal University Museum, 

Copenhagen. 
Natural History Museum, Angers. 
Museum of Natural History, Paris. 
Museum of Natural History, Paris. 
Museum of Natural History, Paris. 
Baron Louis d'Hamonville, Manonville. 
Baron Louis d'Hamonville, Manonville. 
Baron Louis d'Hamonville, Manonville. 
Baron Louis d'Hamonville, Manonville. 
Mon. De Meezemaker, Bergues les 

Dunkerque. 
Mon. De Meezemaker, Bergues les 

Dunkerque. 
Mon. M. Hardy, Perigueux. 
Royal Zoological Museum, Dresden. 
Grand Ducal Museum, Oldenburg. 
Herr. Th. Lobbecke, Dusseldorf. 
Zoological Museum, Amsterdam. 
Zoological Museum, Leyden. 
National Museum, Lisbon. 
Museum of Natural History, Lausanne. 
Academy of Natural Sciences, 

Philadelphia. 
Smithsonian Institute, Washington. 
Mr. S. Evelyn Shirley, Ettington, 

Warwickshire. 
Mr. Herbert Massey, Didsbury, Lanes. 
Sir Greville Smythe, Ashton Court, 

Somerset. 
Mr. Heatley Noble, Henley-on-Thames. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 



125 



Appendix "C" 
Tomkinson List of Owners of Great Auk Eggs 1965 



1. British Museum (Natural History), 

Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. 

2. British Museum (Natural History), 

Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. 

3. Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, 1. 

4. Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, 1. 

5. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

6. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

7. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

8. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

9. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

10. University Museum, Oxford. 

11. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

12. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

13. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

14. City of Liverpool Museum, 

(Dept. of Zoology), Liverpool. 

15. Hancock Museum, Natural History 

Soc. of Northumberland, Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne. 

16. Scarborough Natural History Museum, 

The Crescent, Scarborough, York- 
shire. 

17. Spalding Gentleman's Soc. Museum, 

Broad Street, Spalding, Lincolnshire. 

18. Castle Museum, Norwich, Norfolk. 

19. The Museum Alexander Koenig, 

Bonn, Western Germany. 

20. British Museum (Natural History), 

Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. 

21. The Museum Alexander Koenig, 

Bonn, Western Germany. 

22. Major Sir John Stirling, k.t., 

Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, Scotland. 

23. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

24. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

25. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



26. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

27. British Museum (Natural History), 

Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. 

28. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

29. British Museum (Natural History), 

Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. 

30. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

31. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

32. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

33. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

34. University Museum of Zoology, 

Cambridge, England. 

35. The Museum Alexander Koenig, 

Bonn, Western Germany. 

36. British Museum (Natural History), 

Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. 

37. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

38. Not located. Sold about 1947 by 

Sir Bernard Eckstein. 

39. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

40. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

41. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

42. R. Kreuger, Stockholmsgatan 17, 

Helsingfors, Finland. 

43. City Museum, Queen's Road, Bristol, 8. 

44. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

45. The Castle Museum, Norwich, Norfolk. 

46. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

47. University Museum of Zoology, 

Copenhagen, Denmark. 

48. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Angers, 

France. 

49. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 

55 Rue Buffon, Paris, France. 

50. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 

55 Rue Buffon, Paris, France. 



126 



P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 



51. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 

55 Rue de Buffon, Paris, France. 

52. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

53. Mr. J. W. Tomkinson, 

Trimpley, Nr. Bewdley, 
Worcestershire . 

54. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

55. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

56. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

57. Mon. Heim de Balsac, 

34 Rue Hamelin, Paris, France. 

58. Museum of Natural History, 

Marischel College, Aberdeen. 

59. Not located — last known at: 

Museum of Natural History, 
Augustus Str. 2, Dresden, East 
Germany. 

60. Museum of Natural History, 
Oldenburg, East Germany. 

61. Museum Lobbeakeanum, 

Dusseldorf, Western Germany. 



62. Zoological Museum, Amsterdam (c), 

Holland. 

63. Rijksmuseum Raamsteeg 2, Leiden, 

Holland. 

64. Zoological Museum, Lisbon, Portugal. 

65. Museum of Zoology, Lausanne, 

Switzerland. 

66. Academy of Natural Sciences, 

Philadelphia, U.S.A. 

67. Smithsonian Institute National 

Museum, Washington, U.S.A. 

68. Not located. Bought by Rowland Ward 

in 1912. 

69. Capt. Vivian Hewitt, 

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, N. Wales. 

70. Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.A. 

71. Major Sir John Stirling, k.t., 

Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, Scotland. 

72. Museum of Natural History, 

Reykjavik, Iceland. 

73. Mon. le Marquis de Tristan, 

Clery St. Andr6, Loiret, France. 

74. City Museum, Queen's Road, Bristol, 8. 

75. The American Museum of Natural 

History, New York, U.S.A. 



EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK 127 

Appendix "D" 
Comparison of Egg Numbers 



Tomkinson 


Bidwell 


Grieve 


Parkin 


Tomkinson 


Bidwell 


Grieve 


Parkin 


No. 


No. 


No. 


No. 


No. 


No. 


No. 


No. 


i 


1 


31/32 


25 


47 


47 


26 




2 


2 


31/32 


26 


48 


48 


2 




3 


3 


23 




49 


49 


50 




4 


4 


24 




50 


50 


5i 




5 


5 


38 


9 


5i 


51 


52 




6 


6 


39 


10 


52 


52 


43 


3 


7 


7 


40 




53 


53 


3/4/5 


20 


8 


8 






54 


54 


3/4/5 


15 


9 


9 


41 




55 


55 


3/4/5 


18 


IO 


10 


48 




56 


56 


6/7 




ii 


11 


33 




57 


57 


6/7 




12 


12 


34 




58 


58 


20 


23 


13 


13 


35 




59 


59 


21 




14 


M 


30 




60 


60 


47 




15 


15 


44 




61 


61 


22 




16 


16 


56 




62 


62 


1 




17 


17 


68 


4 


63 


63 


28 




18 


18 


57 


22 


64 


64 


29 




19 


19 


58 




65 


65 


27 




20 


20 


60 




66 


66 


53 




21 


21 


59 




67 


67 


66 




22 


22 


61 


21 


68 


68 




24 


23 


23 


62 




69 


69 




12 


24 


24 


63 




70 


70 




13 


25 


25 


64 




7i 


71 


36 


8 


26 


26 


65 




72 






19 


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28 


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6 


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29 


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128 P. M. L. & J. W. TOMKINSON 

REFERENCES 

des Murs, M. O. 1863. Notice sur l'oeuf de Alca impennis Rev. de Zool. Paris, 15 : 3. 
Hamonville, Baron L. 1888. Note sur les quatre oeufs 6.' Alca impennis appartenant a notre 

collection zoologique. Mem. Soc. Zool. de France, 1 : 224. 
Grieve, Symington. 1885. The Great Auk or Garefowl, London. 
1897. Supplementary note on the Great Auk or Garefowl {Alca impennis Linn.) Trans. 

Edin. Field Nat. and Micros. Soc. 3 : 237. 
Hewitson, W. C. 1856. Eggs of British Birds. 3rd ed. Vol. II. 
Parkin T. (collected by). The Great Auk; Miscellaneous papers. British Museum (Natural 

History) : Bird Section Library. 
Wolley, J. 1905. Ootheca Wolleyana, Vol. 2. 



Plates 66, 67, 72-75 are natural size and the remainder are approximately 9 /io 
of natural size. 

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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 
BY THOMAS DE LA RUE & 
COMPANY LIMITED LONDON 



DARWIN'S NOTEBOOKS 

ON TRANSMUTATION OF 

SPECIES. PART VI 

PAGES EXCISED BY DARWIN 



I 2 



Edited by 

SIR GAVIN DE BEER, M. J. ROWLANDS and 

B. M. SKRAMOVSKY 



BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 
HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 5 

LONDON: 1967 






22 MAR 



DARWIN'S NOTEBOOKS ON 
TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 

PART VI 

PAGES EXCISED BY DARWIN 



Edited by 
SIR GAVIN de BEER, M. J. ROWLANDS and B. M. SKRAMOVSKY 



Pp. 129-176 



BULLETIN OF 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 5 

LONDON: 1967 



THE BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

(NATURAL HISTORY), instituted in 1949, is 
issued in Jive series corresponding to the Departments 
of the Museum, and an Historical series. 

Parts will appear at irregular intervals as they become 
ready. Volumes will contain about three or four 
hundred pages, and will not necessarily be completed 
within one calendar year. 

In 1965 a separate supplementary series of longer 
papers was instituted, numbered serially for each 
Department. 

This paper is Vol. 3, No. 5 of the Historical series. 
The abbreviated titles of periodicals cited follow those of 
the World List of Scientific Periodicals. 



World List abbreviation : 
Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Hist. ser.). 



Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) 1967 



TRUSTEES OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

Issued 21 March, 1967 Price £1 



DARWIN'S NOTEBOOKS ON TRANSMUTATION 

OF SPECIES PART VI. 

PAGES EXCISED BY DARWIN 

Edited by 
SIR GAVIN de BEER, M. J. ROWLANDS, & B. M. SKRAMOVSKY 

Introduction 

It was explained in the Introduction to Darwin's First Notebook on Transmutation 
of Species, that his method of working, when preparing to write his large book on 
Natural Selection which never appeared, but 'of which the Origin of Species was an 
abstract, was to cut out of his Notebooks those pages which contained the material 
of which he felt most in need. The result was that the Notebooks themselves were 
mutilated ; but it was found that, as they stood, they provided so much useful 
information on the way in which Darwin's thoughts flowed, and the dates on which 
he made certain notes, that they were published. About a year later, some of the 
excised pages were found, partly among papers which Sir Robin Darwin had deposited 
with the Science Museum and subsequently transferred temporarily to the British 
Museum (Natural History), and partly in the Museum's library. In this manner 
28 pages were recovered, the notebooks to which they had belonged determined, 
transcribed, edited, and published. 

On the death of Mr. Bernard Darwin, his son Sir Robin Darwin deposited tempor- 
arily at the Museum a box of papers in which were found 202 more of the missing 
pages, and these form the subject of the present publication. The number of pages 
still missing now stands at about 70, and of these some may have been blank. The 
probability of their being discovered is small, and it is probable that as much has 
been collected of Darwin's Notebooks on Transmutation of Species as ever will be : 
824 pages. 

These newly found pages were the ones which Darwin himself considered to be 
the most important for his work, and it would be impossible to comment on them. 
An exception must, however, be made, in drawing attention to the pages (III, 134 
& 135) which make it possible to determine which passage it was in Malthus's Essay 
on the Principle of Population which provided Darwin with what he required to 
prove that natural selection forced favourable adaptive variants into their ecological 

HIST. 3, 5. I 



132 



EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FIRST 

niches, to know the exact date when this struck him, and to read the immediate 
effect which this had in his mind and led him to draft his most striking definition of 
natural selection. 

The different notebooks to which the pages originally belonged were identified 
by the late Mr. A. C. Townsend and one of us (B.M.S.) by comparing the scissor-marks 
on the pages and on the stumps left in the notebooks. 

Darwin classified his excised pages and marked many of them with large figures 
scrawled in black or red pencil. A table of these is given. 

The editorial policy adopted with the excised pages is the same as that used with 
the Notebooks, but simplified as much as possible. No attempt has been made at 
facsimile reproduction, and if a reader should require to know whether any particular 
word or phrase was written in ink or in pencil, and possibly at a later date than the 
body of the text, he must consult the original manuscript pages, which are now in 
the Cambridge University Library. 

It is a pleasure to record indebtedness to Sir Robin Darwin, Mr. H. R. Creswick, 
Mr. P. J. Gautrey, and particularly to Dr. Sydney Smith who not only gave us the 
benefit of his Transcription of difficult readings of the text and pointed out many 
of our mistakes, but very kindly supplied us with the text of additional excised pages 
which he found in the Cambridge University Library. 



Table of numbers marked in pencil made by Darwin on pages 
excised from his notebooks on transmutation of species. 

N.B. Some pages are marked with more than one number. They are all referred 
to here by the Notebook in Roman figures, followed by the manuscript page number 
in arabic figures. 

Number 

2. III. 114, 148. 

3. II. 47, III. 12. 

5- IV. 56. 

7. II. 160, III. 102. 

9. II. 253. 

10. I, 190, II. 215, III. 54, IV. 124, 130, 170. 

n. I. 70, 126, II. 71, 107, no, in, 142, 161, 185, 206, 222, III. 29, 55, IV. 25, 



16 



17 
18 

19 



91. 



III. 7, 136. 

I. 30, 52, 189, II. 210, III. 31, 73, 85, 87, 105, 159. T 73, IV. 123, 169. 

I. 124, II. 23, 40, 94, 213, 227, IV. 139, 166. 

I. 56, 154, 160, 177, 199, 201, 209, 234, 249, 255, II. 13, 18, 25, 27, 41, 50, 92, 
109, 183, 205, 216, 225, 227, 249, 251, III. 31, 45, 61, 133, 151, IV. 10, 12, 19, 
21, 42, 166, 173, 176. 

20. I. 76, 107, 173, II. 93, 102, 148, 184, 238, 239, 241, 250, IV. 20, 104. 

21. II. 257, IV. 88, 120. 

22. IV. 6, 87, 126, 166 

23. II. 50, 160, III. 148, IV. 56. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 133 

Pages excised by Darwin from his First Notebook on Transmutation of Species 
[ 

29 ... not. — 

Monad has not definite existence. — 

There does appear some connection shortness of existence, in perfect species from 
many changes and base of branches being dead from which they bifurcated. — | 

30 Type of Eocene with respect to Miocene of Europe? 

Loudon. Journal of Nat History 1 . July 1837. Eyton of Hybrids propagating 
freely. | 

51 the nearest species often come [from] very remote quarters. (N.B. if Plata Partridge 
or Orpheus was introduced into Chili in present state it might continue & thus two 
species be created) & live in same country. How in propagation of wolf & Dog. 1A 
(because being believed same species) if they do not breed readily point in view. — 
Pwhether highly domesticated animals like races of man. — | 

52 M. Flourens. 2 Journal des Savants. April 1837. p. 243 it is said as well known 
fact that " serin avec le chardonneret, avec la linnotte, avec le verdier " & for silver 
gold & common pheasants & fowls. — " on sait que le ' metis ' du loup et du chien, 
que celui de la chevre et du belier, cessent d'etre feconds des les premieres generations " 
go back to type of either animal when crossed with it. — | 

55 There certainly appears attempt in each dominant structure to accom[m]odate 
itself to as many situations as possible. — Why should we have in open country a 
ground woodpecker. — do. parrot. — a desert Kingfisher. — mountain tringas. — ■ 
upland goose. — water chionis, water rat with land structures ; carrion eagles. — 
This is but carrying on attempt at adaptation of each element. — 

May this not be explained on principle of animal having come to island where it 
could increase, but there were causes to induce great change, like the Buzzard which 
has changed into Caracara at the Galapagos, law of chance would cause this to 
have happened in all but less in water birds. — | 

56 Fernando Noronha Ophyessa bilineata (Gray) new species belonging to true 
American genus. 

Waterhouse 3 says he is certain, that in insects, each family, however many there 
may be, represent every other, for instance in Heteromera, you have representatives 
(which at first would be mistaken for) Carabidae, Chrysomela, Scarabeidae, & Longi- 
cornes. — 

1 Thomas Campbell Eyton. " Some Remarks upon the Theory of Hybridity ". Mag. Nat. Hist., 
N.S. vol. 1, 1837, p. 357 : "a hybrid male and female, derived from the Chinese and common goose, 
had been productive inter se " 

1A John Hunter, Observations on certain parts of the Animal Oeconomy, with notes by Richard Owen, 
London 1837, " Observations tending to show that the Wolf, Jackal and Dog are all of the same species ". 

2 Marie- Jean-Pierre Flourens. Review of Cuvier's Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles, in Journal des 
Savans, avril 1837, p. 243. 

3 George Robert Waterhouse. " Description of some new species of exotic insects ", Trans. Entom. 
Soc. Lond., vol. 2, pp. 188-196. On p. 189 : — " This collection consists chiefly of Coleopterous insects, 
and among them I had most of the curious forms observed in the section Heteromera, — my object being 
to show that the species thus selected were analogous representations of other groups of beetles ; that is 
to say, that they departed from their own group in certain characters of form, colour, &c, and that in 
these respects they appear to have borrowed (if I may use such a term) the characters of other groups 
of the same order, to which they bear such a resemblance that they might at first sight be mistaken for 
species belonging to those groups ". 



i 3 4 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FIRST 

Again taking a subdivision of Heteromera | 

69 tendency to keep to one line. 3A Dr. Smith 4 says very close species generally frequent 
slightly different localities, so that they become useful to know what is species. — 

70 In proof that structure is simple adaptation, armadilloes & | & Megatherium each 
with same kind of coat. — If we could tell, I do not doubt even colour hereditary 
in time and in space (Mem. Galapagos). Little wings of Apteryx. Dacelo & King- 
fisher same colours \ 

75 relation of types in two countries direct relation to facilities of communication. 

Have races of Plants ever been crossed really, if there is any difficulty in such 
marriages or offspring show tendency to go back — there is an end to species. — | 

76 Brown 5 Appendix. A most remarkable observation of Mr Brown about peculiarities 
of Flora on East & West ends of New Holland, diminishing towards centre (p. 586) — 
Parallel 33°-35° some of forms reduce towards Northern Eastern end & die away 
& partake of Indian character. | 

107 Ed. New. Philosoph. J. No. 3 p. 207 " It is not generally known that Ireland 
possesses varieties of the furze, broom, & yew very different from any found in great 
Britain. British varieties are also found in Ireland. 6 — | 

108 There must be progressive development ; for instance none ? of the vertebrata 
could exist without plants & insects had been created ; but on other hand creations 
of small animals must have gone on since from parasitical nature of insects & worms. 
— In abstract we may say that vegetables & most of insects could live without 
animals | 

123 Race permanent, because every trifle hereditary, without some cause of change ; 
yet such causes are most obscure without doubt : vide cattle : The grand fact is 
to establish whether in crossing very opposite races whether you would expect equal 
fertility, ditto in Plants. | 

124 It will be well to refer to Chamisso 7 Vol. Ill, p. 155 about quantities of seeds in sea : 
also Holman 8 : Keeling these are most important facts. — • As soon as island large 
enough for land birds, seeds picked from the beach by the birds : most seeds germinat- 
ing. — I 

125 It would be curious experiment to know whether soaking seeds in salt water &c has 
any tendency to form varieties? 

3A Andrew Smith. " Observations relating to the Origin and History of the Bushmen ", The South 
African Quarterly Journal. No. 1, 1830, pp. 1 71-189. 

4 Andrew Smith. " A description of the birds inhabiting the South of Africa ", S. Afr. Quart. Journ., 
No. 3, 1830, pp. 225-241 ; on p. 237 : — " when a doubt can justly exist as to identity, to consider the 
objects, especially if their habitats be very far apart, as distinct species ". 

5 Robert Brown. Appendix No. Ill in A Voyage to Terra Australis. by Matthew Flinders, vol. 2, 1814, 
PP- 533 _OI 3 ; General Remarks, geographical and systematical, on the Botany of Terra Australis ; 
p. 586 : — " nearly half the Australian species of plants, at present known, have been collected in a 
parallel included between 33 ° and 35 ° latitude ; and it appears from the preceding observations on the 
several natural orders, that a much greater proportion of the peculiarities of the Australian Flora exists 
in this, which I have therefore called the principal parallel . . . Within the tropic at least on the East coast, 
the departure from the Australian character is much more remarkable, and an assimilation nearer to 
that of India than of any other country takes place ". 

6 Robert Jameson, editor of Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 2, 1826, Scientific Intelligence — 
Botany, p. 207 : — " Irish Furze, Broom, and Yew ". 

7 Adelbert von Chamisso, in Otto von Kotzebue, A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering's 
Straits . . . translated by H. E. Lloyd, London 1821. 

8 James Holman. Voyage round the World, London 1834. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 135 

Ed. N. Phil. J. 9 Moose found in Virginia p. 325 July 1828. Animal now confined 
to extreme North. — do p. 326 2 Fossil species of Ox in N. America 10 ; as well as 
2 recent. | 
126 See Geol. Proc. 11 p. 569 1837. Account of wonderful fossils of India. 

Great monkeys 12 & p. 545. 

Mr. Johnston 13 says Mag of Zooly & Bot p. 65 vol II talking of annelidae. — The 
fact is an additional illustration of that axiom in Natural History that all aberrant 
& osculant groups are not only few in species, but every two or three [in] them form 
genera 

this is from unfavourable conditions there are many gaps & those forms which 
nevertheless have produced species, have | 

153 See R.N. 14 p. 130 speculations on range of allied species, p. 127 p. 132. There 
is no more wonder in extinction of individuals than of species. 

Paris Tertiary Shells in India! 15 ? A 16 p. 28 

Dr Beck 17 & Lyell. 18 most curious law of species few in Arctic in proportion to 

154 genera, agrees with late production of those regions & consequently | not many 
get multiplied : N.B. How does this bear with law referred to by Richardson 19 
in Report about each genus having its parent type in hotter parts of world. 

Is monkey peculiar to C. de Verd Is.? No. Macleay 20 passage given in Congo 
Expedition. 

We need not expect to find varieties intermediate between every species. — Who 
can find trace or history of species between | 



9 Edinburgh New Philosoph. Journ. vol. 5, 1828, p. 325, " Discovery of a fossil walrus or sea-horse, in 
Virginia. 

10 J. E. Dekay. " On a fossil ox from the Mississipi ", Edinburgh New Philosoph. Journ., vol. 5, 1828, 
P- 326. 

11 Sir Proby T. Cautley & Hugh Falconer. " On the remains of a fossil Monkey from the Tertiary 
strata of the Sewalik Hills in the north of Hindostan ", Proc. Geol. Soc, vol. 2, No 51, 1837, p. 568. 

12 Sir Proby T. Cautley & Dr Royle : in an extract from a letter in Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. 2, No. 
51, p. 545 "... The animal must have been much larger than any existing monkey . . ." 

13 George Johnston. " Miscellanea Zoologica. The British Ariciadea ". Mag. Zool. Bot. vol. 2, 
18., p. 65 : — " not only comparatively few species, but at the same time these species so dissimilar among 
themselves that each, or every two or three of them, will be found to have characters which are properly 
generical ". 

14 Sir John Richardson. Report on North American Zoology (6th Report of the British Association for 
the Advancement of Science, 1836). An offprint was given by the author to Darwin and was heavily 
annotated by him ; now in Cambridge University Library. Information kindly supplied by Dr Sydney 
Smith. 

15 Sir Charles Lyell. Principles of Geology, 5th ed. Loudon, 1837, vol. 3, p. 378-379 : — • " The Recent 
Strata form a common point of departure in all countries . . . Thus, for example, if strata should be dis- 
covered in India or South America, containing the same proportion of recent shells as are found in the 
Paris Basin, they also might be termed Eocene ". 

16 Reference untraced. 

17 Heinrich Henrichsen Beck. " Notes on the Geology of Denmark ", Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. 2, 1838, 
p. 217. 

18 Sir Charles Lyell. Principles of Geology, 5th ed., London 1837, vol. 3. See also Alexandre de Hum- 
boldt, Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles, Paris 1820, tome 18, p. 422 ; table : " Sur les lois que Ton 
observe dans la distribution des formes v6g6tales ". 

19 Sir John Richardson, Report on North American Zoology, {Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. [Bristol 1836] 
vol. 5, 1837, pp. 121-224. 

20 Reference uncertain. Capt. Tuckey's Narrative of an expedition [to explore] The River Zaire 
usually called the Congo, in South Africa in 1816. John Murray 1818. p. 36. " The only species 
here is the green monkey (Cercopithecus sabaeus)." 



136 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FIRST 

159 Von Buch 21 says from Humboldt 22 in Laponia genera to species 1.2, 3 — From 
Mackenzie 23 Iceland then 144 genera & 365 species of plants not cryptogamic 1-2, 53. — 

In known varieties there is analogy to species & genera. — for instance three 
kinds of greyhound. — In plants do. the seeds of marked varieties produce no 
difference, if they do. — there probably will be this relation also. Yes. Fox. 24 | 

160 The creative power seems to be checked when islands are near continent : compare 
Sicily & Galapagos!! — 

Some of the animals peculiar to Mauritius are not found at Bourbon Zoolog. 
Proceedings 25 A.D. 1832 p. 111 | 

173 Roxburgh 27 list of plants in Beatsons 28 St Helena — Galapagos — Juan Fernan- 
dez — Falkland Islds — Kerguelen land. — Phillips. 29 Lardner Ericyclop. insists 
on analogy between Australia and fossils of Oolitic series, does not appear to me very 
strong, what is Osteopora platycephalus. (Harlan) found on Delaware is it 
Edentate? Phillips 30 Lardner p. 289 | 

174 It is certain that North American fossils bear the closest relation to those now 
living in the sea. — See Rogers 31 report to Brit. Assoc, on N. American Zoology — | 

177 and milk — Fox 32 tells me that it is generally said. = = How came first species to 
go on. There never were any constant species. Both males & females lose desire. 

Native dog not found in V. Diemen's land J. de Physique Tom 59 p. 467 Peron. 33 | 

178 G. St Hilaire 34 has written " Opuscule entitled Paleontographie " developing 
his ideas on passage of forms. — Deshayes 35 states Lamarck 36 priority refers to 
introduction to Animaux sans Vertebres as latest authority — The case of the tail[l]ess 
cat of the Isle of Man mentioned in Loudon 37 analogue of Bloodhound. — | 

21 Leopold von Buch. Description physique des lies Canaries, traduit de l'allemand par C. Bourgeois- 
Paris 1830. Proportion of genera to species : in North Africa 1 to 4-2 ; in Canary Islands 1 to 1.46 '• 
on St Helena 1 to 1-5. According to Humboldt, in France 1 to 5-7 ; in Lappland 1 to 2-3. 

22 Alexander von Humboldt. De distributione geographica plantarum secundum coeli temperiem et 
altitudinem montium, prolegomena, Lutetiae Parisiorum 1817. 

23 Sir George Stewart Mackenzie. Travels in the Island of Iceland, Edinburgh 1812, Chapter VIII, 
Botany, pp. 350-356. 

24 William Darwin Fox. Probably personal communication. 

25 Julien Desjardin. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p. in : — " their animals are not universally the same, 
some species being met with in the one which never occur in the other ". 

27 William Roxburgh. List of Plants relative to the Island of St Helena, in Alexander Beatson, vide 
infra., following footnote. 

28 Alexander Beatson. Tracts relative to the Island of St Helena, [London], 1816. 

29 John Philips. Treatise on Geology, in Lardner' s Cabinet Cyclopedia, London 1837. 

30 ibid. 

31 Henry Darwin Rogers. " Report on the Geology of North America ", Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 
Edinburgh 1834 [1835], vol. 3, pp. 1-66. 

32 William Darwin Fox. Probably personal communication. 

33 Francois Peron, " Sur quelques faits zoologiques applicables a la theorie du globe, lu a la Classe 
des Sciences physiques et math£matiques de l'lnstitut National ". Journ. de Physique, de Chimie, 
d'Histoire naturelle et des Arts, tome 59, 1804, p. 463 ; Premiere section : observations zoologiques qui 
peuvent faire douter de la reunion primitive de la Nouvelle-Hollande a. la Terre de Diemen. On p. 466 : — ■ 
" Le chien . . . n'existe pas sur la Terre de Diemen ". 

34 Etienne Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire. See following footnote. The basic idea is contained in his Prin- 
cipes de philosophic zoologique, Paris 1830, p. 214. 

35 Gerard-Paul Deshayes. Bull. Soc. geol. France, tome 4, 1833-4. P- 99 : — " M. Deshayes repondant 
a ce que M. Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire a expose dans la seance precedente en presentant son opuscule intitule" : 
Paleontographie, reclame en faveur de notre ceUebre Lamarck la priority de cette id^e, que les animaux 
sont modifies dans leur organisation par les circonstances ambiantes ". 

36 Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck. Philosophic zoologique, Paris 1809 ; also Histoire naturelle des animaux 
sans vertebres, Paris 181 5-1822. 

37 Edward Blyth. " An attempt to classify the ' Varieties ' of animals, with observations ", Loudon's 
Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. 8, 1835, p. 40. On p. 47 : — ■ tailless cats . . . are other striking examples of true 
varieties " . 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 137 

189 on hybrids between grouse & Pheasant. 38 Magazine Zoolog. & Botany vol. 1, 
P- 450. 

There is in nature a real repulsion amounting to impossibility holds good in plants 
between all different forms ; therefore when from being put on island & fresh species 
made parents do not cross — we see it even in men ; thus possibility of Caffers & 
Hottentots coexisting proves this. — but when man makes variety then are vitiated. 
— this barely applies to plants | 

190 Female pig apt to produce monsters in Isle of France. 39 — Madagascar oxen 
with hump. 40 — p. 173 Voyage par un Ofhcier du Roi 

Mem. Capt. Owen's 41 story of cats on West coast of Africa. — changing hair. 
The Edinburgh Journal of Natural History. 42 Preface appeared good with facts 
about changes when animals transported. | 

199 Bustards in Germany. — 

Athenaeum 43 No. 537 Feb. 1838 p. 107. Mr. Blyth states that all genera of birds 
in N. America & Europe, which have not their representative species in each other, 
are migratory species from warmer countries. When will this paper be published 
it will be curious. — Some general statement about mundine & confined genera. — • | 

200 Lyell 44 has remarked about no confined species in Sicily. 

Jan. 1838 l'Institut. 45 Bats, in Eocene beds very like present species, p. 8? are 
mundine forms longest persistent ?? do. — The most perfect Plants Composit. 46 — !! 
good those which have undergone most metamorphosis is this applicable to insects &c. 
&c. ? — p. 23 do. — On animal — Confervae. 47 p. 23 | 

38 William Thompson. " On hybrids produced in a Wild state between the Black-Grouse (Tetrao 
tetrix) and Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) ", Mag. Zool. Bot., vol. i, 1836-1837, p. 450. 

39 Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Voyage a I' Isle de France, a I'Isle de Bourbon, au Cap 
de Bonne-Esperance, &-c, Avec des Observations nouvelles sur la mature &â–  sur les Hommes, par un Officier 
du Roi, Amsterdam 1773, tome 1, p. 247 : — " . . celle du cochon . . . La femelle de cet animal est sujette 
dans cette Isle a produire des monstres ". 

40 Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, op. cit., tome 1, p. 246 : — " des boeufs dont la race vient de Madagascar, 
lis portent une grosse loupe sur leur cou ". 

41 William Fitzwilliam W. Owen. Narrative of a Voyage to explore the shores of Africa, Arabia, and 
Madagascar . . . London 1833. 

42 Edinb. Journ. Nat. Hist. No 2, 1835, p. 5 : — " We are astonished when we study their geological 
relation in any particular district or country ; their geographical distribution, relatively to the world 
itself, or their migration from one country to another ; their connection with climate, there being domestic 
plants, which follow man in his improvement and change of soil, or wanderers seeking to inhabit distant 
regions, formerly uninhabited by their kinds, or by their being social and living, like man, in large com- 
munities ; their abundance or rarity ; their mode of propagation ; their natural enemies, or more kindly 
friends." 

43 Edward Blyth. Athenaeum, No. 537, February 1838, p. 107 : — "... that those North American 
birds which have no generic representative in Europe, and those European genera which have no species 
proper to America are, almost without exception, migratory, belonging to types of forms characteristic 
of those regions where they pass the winter ". 

44 Sir Charles Lyell. Principles of Geology, 5th ed. London 1837, v °l- 3> P- 444 : — " The newly emerged 
surface, therefore, must, during the modern zoological epoch, have been inhabited for the first time by 
the terrestrial plants and animals which now abound in Sicily . . . The plants of the flora of Sicily are 
common, almost without exception, to Italy or Africa, or some of the countries surrounding the Mediter- 
ranean ; so that we must suppose the greater part of them to have migrated from pre-existing lands ". 

45 Henri-Marie de Blainville. L'Institut, 1838, p. 6, Zoologie, Chauve-Souris. On p. 8 : — " ces 
families existaient avant la formation des terrains tertiaires ... si anciennes ne differaient que fort peu, 
si meme elles differaient des especes actuellement vivantes dans les memes confreres ". 

46 J. Meyen. L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, Physiologie vegetale ; on p. 23 : — " M. Fries decide que les 
Composees sont les plantes les plus completement developpees ". 

47 ibid. " M. Mohl a fait connaitre d'abord ses observations sur le Conferva ". 

hist. 3, 5. i§ 



138 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FIRST 

201 p. 267 Dela Beche 48 Geolog. Researches, facts of salt-water shells living in abso- 
lutely fresh water. Origin of fresh-water genera ? The absence of lime in Plutonic 
& Volcanic rocks most remarkable. — ? Have the changes been so slow, that all 
have existed for ages as metamorphic & therefore according to Lyell's 49 doctrine 
removed ?? | 

202 Is the prevalence of Coniferous Woods before Dicotyledenous a fact analogous to 
reptiles before mammalia 

Think about Miocene fossils some species being recent agreeing with Senegal, 
whilst Crag according to Beck 50 has none recent yet genera same. — Speculate on 
multiplication of species by travelling of Climates & the backward & forward intro- 
duction of species. — | 

209 Bolivian human species 51 ? — 

Small new animal mentioned from Fernando Po. 52 Zoolog. Proceedings October 
(?) 1837 [Contrast New Zealand with Tasmania]. 52A The reason why there is not 
perfect gradation of change in species as physical changes are gradual ; is this if after 
isolation (seed blown into desert or separation of mountain chains &c.) the species 
have not been much altered they will cross (perhaps more fertility & so make that 
sudden step, species or not. | 

210 A plant submits to more individual change, (as some animals do more than others 
& cut off limbs & new ones are formed) but yet propagates varieties according to 
same law with animals ?? 

Why are species not formed during ascent of mountain or approach of desert? — 
because the crossing of species less altered prevents the complete adaptation which 
would ensue j 

233 Dr Smith's information.â„¢ Long Horned (very) aboriginal at Cape crossed with 
English Bull, offspring very like common English. — Hottentots say great tailed 
sheep aboriginal at Cape & a thinner tailed kind farther inland. — 

N.B. There is division of snakes with hinder teeth perforated for poison channels, 
but not having them, instance of useless structure. 

Smith 54 thinks several species of Rhinoceros range from Abyssinia to extreme South 
coast. Elephant he believes is mentioned by old writers on extreme Northern 

234 coast. I Hippopotamus do. — Giraffe do. — 

48 Sir Henry Thomas de La Beche. Researches in Theoretical Geology, London 1834, p. 267 : — " Voluta 
magnifica is known to live high up in the brackish waters near Port Jackson in Australia, and an Area 
inhabits the freshwater of Jumna, near Hamirpur, 1000 miles from the sea ". 

49 Sir Charles Lyell. Principles of Geology, 5th ed. London 1837, vol. 3, p. 302 : — " The constant 
transfer, therefore, of carbonate of lime from the inferior parts of the earth's crust to its surface, must 
cause at all periods and throughout an indefinite succession of geological epochs, a preponderance of 
calcareous matter in the newer, as contrasted with the older formations ". 

50 Heinrich Henrichsen Beck. " Notes on the Geology of Denmark ", Proc. Geol. Soc, vol. 2,1835-1836, 
pp. 217-220. 

51 Joseph Barclay Pentland. " On the Ancient inhabitants of the Andes ", Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci, 
1834, p. 624 : — " The remains of this race are found in ancient tombs among the mountains of Peru 
and Bolivia ". 

52 Proc. Zool. Soc, vol. 5, 1837, p. 101 : — " Mr Martin exhibited a new Bat from Fernando Po ". 
(Probably William Martin). 

52A A pencil interpolation. 

53 Andrew Smith. Personal communication. 

54 Andrew Smith. Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. 1. Mammalia, London 1838, gives 
the range of the rhinoceros. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 139 

Range of East Indian Rhinoceros (?) — Some paper in Institut 55 on range of Bos 
in India. — Range of Zebra ? — 

The crocodile & Tortoise former inhabits of Mauritius Freycinets 56 Voyage, agrees 
with several mammalia being peculiar (?) 

If Henslow 51 discusses possibility of seeds of Keeling standing transport. — Get 
him to discuss those mentioned by Lesson 58 & Chamisso. 59 — | 

249 Mr. Waterhouse 60 has most curious facts about the distribution of Lemurs in 
Madagascar, on neighbouring islets & a sub-genus in Southern Africa. In same 
manner, Cuscus, (a sub genus of Phalangista New Holland form) is found in many 
islands Celebes, Waygiou &c. &c. (See Lyell 61 Vol. Ill p. 30) different species in 
different isld. (as far East as New Ireland. See Coquille Voyage 62 ). Waterhouse 63 
remarks Australian Fauna so far. Indian all the rest. Timor according to mountain 
chain ought to be Australian ? — Mr. Gould 64 has been struck with similar extension 
of forms in Birds. — | 

250 Waterhouse 65 thinks two main divisions of cats. Tortoise shell & grey — banded. 
Pspecies? thinks offspring of cats sometimes heterogenous. — Australian dog 
jumped into tub leaving only nose above it — pulled bell. 66 — It is most curious to 
observe, that all the species of mice in S. America which were hard to distinguish 
came from closely neighbouring localities. — Institut 67 1838 p. 38 account of fossils 
of Sewalick India Monkeys of old World Crocodiles Anoplotherium. — | 

255 T. Carlyle 68 saw with his own eyes new gate opening towards pigs. — latch on 
other side. — Pigs put legs over, & then with snout lift up latch & back. — 

55 reference untraced. 

56 Louis de Freycinet. Voyage autour du monde . . . Paris 1825-1839. Freycinet also edited the 2nd 
edition of Francois Peron's Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes, Paris 1824, referred to above by 
Darwin in connexion with Mauritius. 

57 John Stevens Henslow. " Florula Keelingensis. An Account of the native plants of the Keeling 
Islands "., Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. 1, 1838, p. 337 : — " Mr Darwin . . . presented me with the plants which he 
collected, together with his memoranda respecting them, I have thought that a list of the species, accom- 
panied by a few remarks, might be of interest ; and chiefly as serving to point out a set of plants whose 
seeds must be provided in a very eminent degree with the means of resisting the influence of sea water ". 
It is interesting to note this early date at which Darwin was interested in the viability of seeds immersed 
in sea water, on which he made experiments twenty years later. 

58 Rene Primevere Lesson. In Louis Isidore Duperrey, Voyage autour du Monde . . . Paris 1 826-1 830, 
Zoologie is by Lesson and P. Garnot, tome 1, 1826. 

59 Adelbert von Chamisso. In Otto von Kotzebue, A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beer- 
ing's Straits, London 1821. 

60 George Robert Waterhouse. Probably personal communication. 

61 Sir Charles Lyell. Principles of Geology, 5th ed. London 1837, vol. 3, p. 30 : — " Phalangista vulpina 
inhabits both Sumatra and New Holland, the P. ursina is found in the island of Celebes ; P. chrysorrhos 
in the Moluccas ; P. maculata, and P. cavifrons, in Banda and Amboyna ". 

62 Louis Isidore Duperrey, Voyage autour du Monde, . . . Zoologie par MM. Lesson et Garnot, tome 1, 
Paris 1826, p. 158 : — " Couscous blanc, Cuscus albus . . . Kapoune des Negres du Part-Praslin, a la 
Nouvelle-Irlande ". 

63 George Robert Waterhouse. Probably personal communication. 

64 John Gould. A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and adjacent Islands, London 1837-1838. 

65 George Robert Waterhouse. Probably personal communication. 

66 Reference untraced. 

67 Hugh Falconer & Sir Proby T. Cautley. " Sur de nouvelles especes fossiles de l'Ordre de Quad- 
rumanes ", L'Institut tome 6, 1838, p. 37. Also Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. 2, 1837, P- 544 : — " extract of a 
letter, dated Saharumpore 18th November 1836 . . . Captain Cautley and Dr Royle ... of the rinding 
of the remains of a quadrumanous animal in the Sewaliks, or Sub-Himalayan range of mountains. An 
Astragalus was first found, but latterly a nearly perfect head, with one side of the molars and one orbit 
nearly complete. The animal must have been much larger than any existing monkey, and allied to 
Cuvier's Cynocephaline group ". 



i 4 o EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FIRST 

Frogs attempted to be introduced to isle of France. 69 p. 170 Fish introduced, 
Hump backed race of cows from Madagascar. 70 — p. 173 Vol. I. Voyage de France 
par un Officier du Roi. — 

Mackenzie 71 Travel, p. 280 says cattle in Iceland are very like the largest of our 
highland sort, except in one respect, that those of Iceland are seldom seen with horns. 
256 p. 341 Black Fox sometimes introduced by ice 72 | very few pigs. — birds mentioned 
but few. — There was notice in Report of British Association of 1838 (Newcastle) 
about somebody who had made great collection of birds of Iceland. 73 — Mr. Gai- 
mard, 74 however, will settle this. — 

Waterhouse 75 says he is certain there are local varieties of colour & size but not 
forms (?) of animals. — He says Stephen 76 says he can at once tell by general colouring 
a group of Nebria complanata from Devonshire from another from Swansea. — 
Again Waterhouse 77 finds certain varieties of Harpalus common at Southend, but 
absent from near London. — Dr Smith, 78 he says, is deeply | 

68 Thomas Carlyle. 

69 Eernardin de Saint- Pierre. Voyage a I'Isle de France . . . Amsterdam 1773, tome i, p. 170, fish and 
frogs introduced to Isle de France (= Mauritius). 

70 ibid. p. 246. 

71 Sir George Stewart Mackenzie. Travels in the Island of Iceland Edinburgh 181 1, p. 280 : — " The 
cattle, in point of size and appearance, are very like our highland sort, except in one respect, that those 
of Iceland are seldom seen with horns ". 

72 ibid., p. 341 : — " Two distinct varieties of fox present themselves in Iceland : the arctic, or white 
fox (Canis lagopus), and one which is termed the blue fox (Canis fuliginosus) and varies considerably 
in the shades of its fur, from a light brownish or blueish grey . . . Horrebow mentions the black fox is 
sometimes brought over on the ice ". 

73 John Hancock. " Remarks on the Greenland and Iceland Falcons " (Collectors : G. C. Atkinson 
& P. Procter), Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. vol. 7, 1839, p. 106. 

74 Paul Joseph Gaimard. Reference to work which ultimately appeared as " Liste des oiseaux qui 
se rencontrent en Islande avec des remarques sur leur presence dans cette ile par M. Raoul Angles " in 
Voyage en Islande et au Groenland . . . Paris 1851. The voyage took place in 1834. 

75 George Robert Waterhouse. Probably personal communication. 

7 6 James Francis Stephens. Zoological Journal, vol. 1, 1825, p. 448, Art. 57, " Some observations on 
the British Tipulidae, together with descriptions of the Species of Culex and Anopheles found in Britain ". 
A footnote on p. 451 refers to a collection of Nebria made in Devonshire by Dr William Elford Leach. 

77 George Robert Waterhouse. Probably personal communication. 

78 Andrew Smith. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 141 

Pages excised from Darwin's Second Notebook 
II 

13 Falkner 1 Patagonia no description of wild animals, nor in Dobritzhoffer 2 Abi- 
pones. — 

Voyage de l'Astrolabe Zoologie 3 p. 60 Vol. I Cynocephalus niger comes from the 
Moluccas Matchian & Celebes. Amboina, Viverra Zibetha. 4 All the Moluccas, 
Waggiou, New Guinea, New Ireland, have phalangista 5 which differ in form & head 
& colour from those of New Holland. — The New Holland species are not found in 
the Archipelago. — Former statements to such effects false. In New Guinea a 
Kangaroo D'Aroe (Didelphus Bruni) 6 which as yet had only been found in isle of 
Aroe & Solor. | 

14 likewise Vol. I new species of Parameles, 7 which joined to Casoars, perroquets, 
establishes its Zoolog alliance with New Holland. The Barbaroussas 8 (when young 
very like the Siam race with Long nozzle & few hairs) inhabits Celebes & few of the 
larger islands. — Antelope in Celebes. Bourou 9 new species of Aries Cervus moluc- 
censis different from that of the Mariana islands & at Amboina. — I fancy there is 
marked wild breed of oxen at Java. p. 140 calls it Bos leucoprymnus. 10 does not 
say whether wild or not. p. 156 Parroket with stiff tail like woodpecker. 11 — | 

17 The changes in species must be very slow owing to physical changes slow & off- 
spring not picked. — as man do when making varieties. — 

Voyage of Coquille. 12 Zoolog. p. 19 Tapir de Courrucous et rupicole vert instances 
of American forms in East. Ind. Archipelago. — Raffles, 13 Horsfield, 14 Diard, 15 
Duvaucel, 16 Leschenault, 17 , Kuhl, 18 Van-Hasselt, 19 Reinwardt, 20 , Forrest 21 authors 
on E. Indian Arch. 

Borneo & Sumatra both seem to have elephant & has orangs. 22 Tapir common 
to Sumatra & Molucca. Borneo & Molucca & Cochin China are said to have orang- 

1 Thomas Falkner. A Description of Patagonia and the adjoining parts of South America, Hereford, 1774. 

2 Martinus Dobritzhofer, Account of the Abipones, London, 1822. \ 

3 Jean Rene* Quoy et Joseph Paul Gaimard, Voyage de decouvertes de l'Astrolabe, Zoologie, PaVis, 1830, 
tome 1, p. 60. 

^ibid., p. 61. 

5 ibid., p. 62. 

6 ibid., p. 62. 

7 ibid., p. 62 : " petit kanguroo a queue courte ". 

8 ibid., p. 63 : " on les confond avec les petits cochons . . . de Siam ". 

9 ibid., p. 64 : "a Java un boeuf remarquable par sa grande taille ". 

10 ibid., p. 140. 

11 ibid., p. 156 : " queue a, plumes fortes et usee comme celles des Pics ". 

12 Rene" Primevere Lesson et Prosper Garnot, Voyage autour du Monde . . . sur . . . La Coquille. Zoo- 
logie, Paris, 1826, p. 19. 

13 Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, History of Java, London, 1817. 

14 Thomas Horsfield, Zoological Researches in Java and the neighbouring islands, London, 1824. 

15 Diard is mentioned in the Dictionnaire Larousse, under " Duvaucel " as a French naturalist whom 
the latter met on his expedition, in 1818. 

16 Alfred Duvaucel (1 792-1 824). 

17 Jean. Leschenault de la Tour (1773-1826). 

18 Heinrich Kuhl, in K. H. Blume, Enumeratio plantarum Javae et insularum adjacentium, Lugd. 
Batav. 1827-8. 

19 van Hasselt, collaborator with Heinrich Kuhl. 

20 Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt. 

21 Thomas Forrest, A Voyage to New Guinea and the Mollucas . . ., London, 1779. 

22 Lesson et Garnot, op. cit., p. 20: " Sumatra et Borneo paraissent renfermer quelques especes de 
quadrupedes identiques, tels que l'el6phant des Indes, Elephas indicus Cuv. et les orangs ". 



i 4 2 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

otang & Pongo in common. 23 Galiopithecus common to Moluccas & Pelew Is ds . 
p. 22 New Caledonia New Ireland p. 123 & Britain same kind of dog with those of 
New S. Wales. | 
18 Crocodile at New Guinea. All the isles of Oceania have the Scincus with golden 
streaks. — the lacerta vitteli extends to from Amboina to New Ireland, p. 23 
(Voyage of Coquille Lesson) 

no (p. 24) batrachian in isles of great Ocean says in conformity with Bory's 23A Views. 

D'Orbigny 23B is said to have brought a tortoise & toad from S. America & identical 

with those from S. Africa. M. Brissou 230 doubts fact. — My toad is same species. I 

23 p. 158 Cuscus albus. 23D New Ireland, maculatus Waigiou. 

Speaking of Lepus Magellanicus says, " apres un examin attentif, et forts surtout 
de l'opinion du baron Cuvier, nous ne balancons pas a le regarder comme une espece 
distincte ". 23 e p. 171 Sus papuensis partly domesticated like in general appearance 
the Siamese kind. — but considered good species from dental characters, wild pig 
said by Forrest to swim from one is ld to another. 24 — It is a good species, with 
different numbers of teats. 24A (Coquille Voyage) | 

24 Durville 25 has written Flora of Falkland Isl ds . where is it? All the Society isles 
have the same productions 25A p. 293. is very strong about this Lesson insists 
much. — The (p. 296) Columba Kurukuru found in all Malaisia & Oceania, offers 
many varieties in each place to puzzle naturalists. — p. 372 Bourous the Baby- 
roussa ; a Cervus near Marianus new ; & some rats & mice. In Amboina only 
Cuscus & Babiroussa | 

25 N.B. (Isl ds springing up more likely to have different species than those sinking, 
because arrival of any one plant might make condition in any one isl d different). — 
p. 414. dogs of New Zealand of large size, resemble chien-loup. — cross, black & 
white, ears short & straight — do not bark. 

p. 433 birds & bats have certainly travelled from East Indies Isl d as far as Oualan. 
— wide space of sea. The East of America would account for this. — (Coquille 
Voyage) Says no reptiles p. 460 & very doubtful whether any birds Except Dodo !! — 
in Mauritius) 

26 Lesson & p. 620 Centropus (coucal) of Java & Philippines has variety at Madagas- 
car, Calcutta & Sumatra, but I do not see how it is known that they are varieties 
& not species. — Vol. 1. 694. Kingfisher of Europe (Alcedo ispida) from Moluccas 

23 ibid., " Borneo r^cele sans doute beaucoup d'animaux inconnus ; mais ceux qu'on y indique plus 
particulierement, tels que l'orang-outan et le pongo, existent aussi, a ce qu'on assure, et dans la cochin- 
chine et sur la presqu'ile de malacca ". Pongo is the name of the orang-utan, but it is found only in 
Borneo and Sumatra. 

23A Jean-Baptiste Bory de St Vincent, Voyage dans les quatre principals ties des Mers d'Afrique, Paris, 
1804. 

23B Alcide Dessalines D'Orbigny. 

23C Mathurin Jacques Brisson, author of Regnum animale, Parisiis, 1756. 

23D Lesson et Garnot, op. cit. 

2S ^ibid., p. 169. 

24 Thomas Forrest, op. cit., p. 97. 
24A Lesson et Garnot, op. cit., p. 175. 

25 Jules-Sebastien-C6sar Dumont d'Urville, " Flore des iles Malouines ", Memoires de la SociiU Lin- 
neenne de Paris, tome 4, 1825. 

25A Lesson et Garnot, op. cit. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 143 

scarcely differs at all from those of Europe, but beak rather sharper & rather longer 
in proportion, colour slightly different. Who can say whether species or varieties. 

27 p. 708. Columba Oceanica (Less.) inhabits Caroline | isld (perhaps Philippines & 
perhaps Friendly Isles & Hebrids) is very closely allied to C. muscadivora, which 
lives in the Eastern Moluccas. New Guinea. — (Case of replacement). Coquille 
Voyage. The Casuary inhabits Ceram, Borneo & especially New Guinea (replaces 
Emeu) in North of New Holland. — 

New Guinea scarcely differs more from Australia more than Van Diemen's land — 
Vol. II p. 8 no snakes on isles of central Pacific, yet there appears to be one at 
Botouma from account of natives, & probably on Oualan. Mitchell 26 says snakes 
on Friendly isles, p. 50 LX Journal of Silliman. Study Silliman | 

28 Vol. II p. 10 it seems that crocodile was washed on shore at one of the Pellew 
isl ds — killed a woman. 27 Chamisso 28 p. 189 Tome III Kotzebue. — p. 22 a Gecko 
on St. Helena. 28A — one Gecko on Isle of France Scincus multilineatus (p. 45) 
Moluccas & New S. Wales. Scincus cyanurus p. 8 & p. 49 on all the Moluccas New 
Guinea & New Ireland & even Java & very common on Otaheite according to Quoy 
& Gaimard 28B stated in note to p. 21 in Sandwich isl d . & according to Chamisso on 
Radack isH — 

p. 69 Shark very generally distributed : Mem. of great geological age. Gastro- 
branchus only two species, one in Northern Hemisphere 2nd in southern, p. 71 
Chimera antarctica caught Chile, Van Diemen's land & Cape of Good Hope. p. 44 
of this Note Book. 280 also the Taeniatole austral | 

39 ? Europe has many species but not genera distinct from rest of world ? ? ? 
Lyells Principles must be abstracted & answered. 

Much might be argued what is not cause of destruction of large quadrupeds. — 
common to these types of animals. 

What reptiles coexisted with Palaeotherium in Paris quarries & at Binstead. Mem. 
recent crocodile with Palaeotherium in India — : connection with Latitudes ! ? | 

40 Zoological Journal. — Vol. I p. 81 Capromys. 29 West Indian isl d . p. 120 ref. 
Philosoph. Transacts 1823 (Read June 5) important paper by Dillwyn, 30 on replace- 
ment of Cephalopoda & Trachilidous Molluscs by each other in secondary & Tertiary 
periods. — p. 125 ref. to Phil. Transacts, (read November 20th) Paper by Jenner 31 
on birds seen far at sea, migrations of species, greese [geese] killed in Newfoundland 
with crops full of maize, (get limits of latter from Barton. — swifts return after 

26 American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. 10, no. i, 1825, Zoology, Art. VI, letter from Dr. Samuel 
L. Mitchell, of New York, to Dr. Godman of Philadelphia, p. 50 : " circumstantial description of a 
two-headed serpent I received from one of the Fejee islands ". 

27 Lesson et Garnot, op. cit., tome 2, p. 10. 

28 Adelbert von Chamisso, in Otto von Kotzebue, Voyage into the South Sea, London 1821. From the 
volume and page numbers that he cited, Darwin appears to have used a French edition of this work. 

28A Lesson et Garnot, op. cit., tome 2, p. 22. 

28B ibid., tome 2, p. 21, where Quoy and Gaimard, and Chamisso, are quoted. 

28C This page is still missing. 

29 Anselm Gaetan Desmarets, " Abstract of a Memoir on a new genus of the order Rodentia, named 
Capromys", originally published in Memoires de la Sociite d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, tome 1, 1823. 

30 L. W. Dillwyn, " On fossil shells ", originally published in Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, London vol. 113, 
1823, p. 393. 

31 Edward Jenner, " Some observations on the migration of birds ", originally published in Phil. 
Trans. Roy. Soc, London, vol. 114, 1824, p. 11. 



i 4 4 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

years to nests. Vol. II p. 49 on the localities of certain parrots habitations India & 
Africa. 32 — N.B. Any monograph like Gould 32A on Trogons worth studying. — | 

41 Zoolog. Journal Vol. 2. p. 221 Horsfield 33 on two bears very close species inhabiting 
Borneo & Sumatra, differ only in form of white mark on breast : p. 234. — good case 

p. 526 (ref.) to Temminck 34 Monograph Mammal 4 to , good facts about distribution 
of cats. 

Vol. Ill p. 233, states that the " Asseel Gayal (Bos Gayaeus) does not mix with 
the Gobbich or village Ga[y]al. 35 — ? is latter same species domesticated, strangely 
contradictory to Azaras fact of conduct of wild & tame horses. — 
p. 246 — Gymnura new genus of Mam. found in Sumatra. 36 

p. 452 Append, to Denham Clapperton &c. on Mammalia 37 no doubt will all be in- 
cluded in Smiths Work 37A | 

42 do. Vol. IV p. 273 Macleay 38 on Capromys. 4 species probably in Cuba (p. 271 
Viedo 38A says American dogs silent. Mem. contrary assertion of Molina) (p. 277) 
probably another in Jamaica & perhaps one extant at Leeward Isles. 

p. 388 Reference to Ruppels Travels 39 (what language?) 
Hyaena venatica of Cape found in Desert of Korti & Steppes of Kordofan. p. 401. 
Admirable letter from Macleay to Bicheno much excellent detail & firm views about 
species. 39A — must be studied : genera founded in nature | 

47 Zoolog. Transact. Vol. I, p. 165. — • " an account of the maneless lion of Guzerat 
by Capt. W. Smee. 39B considered merely variety. — yet form of skull very slightly 
different. — 

Zoolog. T. V. I. p. 389 Owen 40 remarks on Entozoa. the organs of generation, 
afford the least certain indications of the perfection of species — ! How does this 
agree with grand fact of Marsupial low cerebral structure ?? — | 

48 do. p. 390. All classes of Acrita exhibit lowest stages of animal organization, ["] & 
are analogous to the earliest conditions of the higher classes during which the changes 
of the ovum or embryo succeeded each other with the greatest rapidity " 40A — so 

32 N. A. Vigors, " Sketches in ornithology : or observations on the leading affinities of some of the 
more exclusive groups of birds ". 

32A John Gould, Monograph of the Trogonidae, London, 1835-8. 

33 Thomas Horsfield, " Description of the Helarctos euryspilus ; exhibiting the Bear from the Island 
of Borneo, the type of a sub-genus of Ursus ", Zoological Journal, vol. 2, p. 221. 

34 Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Monographies de mammalogie, ou descriptions de quelques genres de 
mammiferes dont les especes ont ete observees dans les differens musees de V Europe, Paris & Leiden, 1827. 

35 Zoological Journal, vol. 3, p. 233, Thomas Hardwick, " On the Bos gour of India ". 

36 Thomas Horsfield, " Notice of a new genus of Mammalia, found in Sumatra by Sir Thomas Raffles", 
Zoological Journal, vol. 3, p. 246. 

37 Major N. Denham, Captain Clapperton & the late Dr Oudney. Narrative of Travels and Discoveries, 
in Northern and Central Africa in the years 1822, 1823 and 1824, London, 1826. Appendix XXI " Zoo- 
logy " by J. G. Children. 

37A Andrew Smith, Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa, London, 1838-49. 

38 William Sharp MacLeay, " Notes on the genus Capromys of Desmarest . . .", Zoological Journal, 
vol. 4, p. 273. 

38a Viedo referred to by MacLeay, op. cit. 

39 Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Riippell, Atlas zu der Reise in nordlichen Africa, ....... ibid., p. 388. 

39A " a Letter to J. E. Bicheno Esq. F.R.S., in examination of his Paper ' On Systems and Methods ', 

in the Linnean Transactions. By W. S. MacLeay Esq ", ibid., p. 401. 
39B Walter Smee. 

40 Richard Owen, " Remarks on the Entozoa, and on the structural difference existing among them : 
including suppositions for their distribution into other Classes ", Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. 1, 1835, p. 387 ; 
on p. 389 : " With respect to generation, the organs of which function afford in their varieties the least 
certain indications of the relative perfection of the species ". 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 145 

we find species each class successively present modifications typical of succeeding 
classes & likewise those much higher in scale. So Owen actually believes in this 
view !!!! 

49 p. 392. — except generation & digestion in Acrite Kingdom | all organs blended 
together & same organ when eliminated is often repeated, as mouths in Polypi, 
surely not correct view of Flustra or Ascidia. spicule in sponge, stomachs in infusoria, 
generation in each joint of Taenia worm. 40B — formative energies easily expended 
& no one system developed — not surprising to find many forms in Acrita. — typical 
of other (surely rather parents). (N.B. These views must lead to spontaneous 
generation ??) This whole paper must be studied. — | 

50 D'Orbigny. 41 Birds of prey are distributed in S. America like other forms, but 
those inhabiting 3 d zone of height & 3 d of latitude more commonly are the same 
species, instead of analogues. — in other classes this evidently relates to greater 
range of such forms. — 

p. 56 42 Ornithological Part of Voyage of ??? 43 A Urubu (with one leg) attended 
the distribution of food at the Mission of Mojos (over 20 leagues apart from each 
other. — this bird was .'. well-known for its impudence. This excellent case of 
memory without association. | 

71 Mr. Gould 44 says wherever any mark like red patch on wing of Furnarius, Synallaxis 
&c. sure to unite the birds into group. — it is same as Yarrell's 45 remark about rock 
Pidgeons. — & the latter most important in obviating a great apparent difficulty — 
preservation of colouring, when form has changed. — Can be said that animals 
no notion of beauty. When does prefer most powerful buck| 

72 Owen 46 talking of Plesiosaurus alludes to some structure in head which he says 
(evidently as an exception) can only be explained by direct adaptation to animals 
wants & not as change in typical structure ?!! 

Whewell, 47 in comment few will dispute, says civilisation hereditary, i.e. instincts 
of wisdom like senses of savages virtue? (How come its [comes it] some convictions 
patriotic?) — but more especially the power of reasoning &c. &c. — | 
91 Musalmans of the Peninsula, are, generally speaking a much fairer race than the 
Hindus in the same tracts & that in their appearance & manners they are as opposite 
as day & night : yet we know how remote the periods at which both left the land 
of their forefathers. — the first to escape the doctrine of Muhammad, the last to 

40A Richard Owen, ibid. , p. 390 ; it is indeed remarkable to find Owen supporting the theory of parallelism 
in embryology and the scale of beings. 
40B Richard Owen, ibid., p. 392. 

41 Alcide D'Orbigny, " Observations on the Raptores of South America, Translated from ' Voyage 
dans l'Amerique Meridionale '," Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 1, 1836-7, pp. 347-359. Darwin's 
reference is to p. 352. 

42 This page reference should read 36. 

43 Voyage dans l'Amerique Meridionale, ...,....; p. 36 : " La familiarite des urubus est extreme. 
Nous en avons vus, dans la province de Mojos, lors de distributions de viande faites aux Indiens, leur en 
enlever des morceaux, au moment meme ou ils venaient de la recevoir ". 

44 John Gould ; he described Furnarius ca4d Synallaxis in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, 
vol. 2, 1 84 1. 

45 William Yarrell, probably personal communication. 

46 Richard Owen, " A description of a specimen of the Plesiosaurus macrocephalus, Conybeare, in the 
collection of Viscount Cole ", [read 4 April 1838], Trans. Roy. Geograph. Soc., vol. 5, 1840, p. 534. 

47 William Whewell, The Bridgewater Treatises on the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God as manifested 
in the Creation, Treatise III, London, 1836. 

HIST. 3, 5. I§§ 



146 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

extend their dominion, armed alike with the Koran & the sword ". quote Whewells 
Bridgewater Treatise (p. 26) about plants from Cape of Good Hope continuing for 
some time to flower at their own periods. — | 

92 Arcana of Science & Art 1831. p. 160 account of Bulbous root from Mummy after 
2000 years, germinating 48 !! — Henslow doubts? 

Geographical Journal Vol. V p. 201 Wellsted Memoir on isl d of Socotra. 49 Cattle 
generally marked like those of the Alderney breed, but size not larger than those of 
Black cattle, not have hump like those from India & Arabia p. 202 sheep have not 
the enormous tails, which disfigure those of Arabia & Egypt. — Civets cats only 
wild animals on isl d . — Neither Hyaenas, jackals, monkeys common to either coast 

93 found here 49A not even antelopes, though common on coast of Arabia | not even ante- 
lopes though common on islets off Arabian coast. — Vol. VI. p. 89. — Lieut. Well- 
sted 50 " on coast of Arabia between Ras Mohammed & Jeddah ". sheep numerous 
" of the kinds one white with a black face, & similar to those brought from Abyssinia ; 
the others dark brown with long clotted hair resembling that of goats ". 

Geograph. Journal Vol. VII. p. 216. Mr. Bennett 51 Voyage round world. 20 
years have scarcely elapsed since the Guava introduced from Norfolk Isl d " & it 

94 now claims all the moist & fertile land of Tahiti, in spite | of every attempt to check 
its increase. The woodlands for miles in extent are composed solely of this shrub ". 
— p. 229 carcases of birds drifting out to sea — 

Vol. VII p. 325 Wild dogs 52 of Guayana always hunt in packs go all together colour 
reddish brown ears long. — like bull terrier. — Indian secured one as they always 
like to cross this breed p. 333. alludes to the Macusie breed no description given — | 

101 A communication 52A to Geograph. Soc. in February or March 1838 on soil in 
Siberia being frozen to 400 ft in depth (& Erman's 52B suspicion that it is not 700) 
is applicable to metamorphosis theory suppose when rhinoceros lived mean temp 
6o° minus [?] then temp at depth of four hundred feet would be 6o° + 6° (??) therefore 
34 degrees of change have travelled that thickness in that period & no ways assisted 
by fluid currents which may take place in metamorphic action. — | 

102 Geograph Journal vol. I p. 17 &c excellent sketch of plants of New Holland sup- 
plementary to Appendix to Flinders Voyage by Brown. 520 — Great space seems to 

48 Arcana of Science & Art : or an Annual Register of useful Inventions and Improvements. London 
1831. On p. 160 " Protraction of Vegetable Life in the dry State ". " Mr. Houlton produced a bulbous 
root which was discovered in the hands of an Egyptian mummy, in which it probably had remained for 
two thousand years. It germinated on exposure to the atmosphere ; when placed in earth it grew with 
great rapidity ". 

49 Lieut. R. Wellsted, " Memoir on the Island of Socotra ", Journ. Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. 5, 1835, 
pp. 129-229. 

49A From here to the end of the page added by Darwin in pencil after he had excised the page, to com- 
plete the sentence ; hence the repetition on the next page. 

50 Lieut. R. Wellsted, " Observations on the coast of Arabia between Ras Mohammed and Jiddah ", 
Journ. Roy. Geograph. Soc, vol. 6, 1836, pp. 51-96. 

51 F. D. Bennett, " Extracts from the Journal of a Voyage round the Globe in the years 1833-36 ", 
Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc, vol. 7, 1837, pp. 210-29. 

52 R. H. Schuckburgh, " Diary of an Ascent of the River Berbice in British Guayana in 1836-7 ", 
Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc, vol. 7, 1837, pp. 302-50. 

52A K. E. von Baer, " On the ground ice or frozen soil of Siberia ", Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc, vol. 8, 1838, 
p. 212 ; " Recent intelligence upon the frozen ground in Siberia ", ibid., p. 401. 

52B Adolph Erman, letter from, Journ. Roy. Geograph. Soc, vol. 8, 1838, p. 214. 

52C Robert Brown, " General view of the Botany of the vicinity of the Swan River ", Journ. Roy. Geo- 
graph. Soc, vol. 1, 1832, p. 17. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 147 

act per se as barrier — Mem. Tartary & China, both coasts of New Holland. Com- 
pare birds of Australia with plants, with this object in view. 

The intimate relation of Life with laws of chemical combination, & the universality 
of latter render spontaneous generation not improbable. | 

107 Fraser 53 remarked to me at Zoological Society, that you never find two similar 
groups of birds in two countries, without intermediate ones occurring in intermediate 
country — i.e. mundine groups. — • 

Waterhouse 54 tells me in insects there are many plenty of instances of insects of 
one tribe taking on structure (probably accompanied by habits) of other, thus in 
Chalcididous insects, which I brought from Australia, probably live in flower & have 
Elytra formed from development of some other part of body. — there are hemip- 
terous insects having spiny legs & running quick & general appearance of blattae — | 

108 other Hemiptera strikingly resemble Coleoptera. — 

Donacia. some orthopterous insects & some third [?] have got thighs with same 
peculiar structure & habits of clinging to rushes similar. — The question which I 
more immediately want are there Heteromera which have habits & part structure 
like Cuculionidae. — Are there any Crysomelidae with similar habits. But the 
Horae Entomologicae will tell this. — 

What peculiar conditions the Staphylinidae on St. Pauls Rock must be placed 
under. | 

109 Gould 55 says most subgenera confined to continent, though we have seen species 
of subgenera scattered over it. 

We have abundant instances of remarkable structures which as far as species is 
concerned superabundant. Showy [?] tail in cock peacock, widow bird. Birds of 
Paradise, Trogons. — the one feather in wing the curious feathers in tail of Edolius. 
Remarkable how small detail in structure prevail amongst the same species & 
subgenera in families. — thus the banded tarsi is common to all the Laniadae & 
Muscicapidae of new World, but not found in Old World. — | 

no If in any well developed family (Gould says) 56 there is any marked colouring of 
plumage (as black & white bars on wings of Trogons or lengthened rump feathers) 
& one species has small band & others large, then he says from long experience you 
may be almost sure, that there exist intermediate species. — ■ This is remarkable & 
would lead one to suppose that species in same group generally contemporary. 
This would lead one to expect that fossil forms would generally fill up genera & not 
species, which is not true with shells ??? It looks as if animals perished by error. [?] | 

in It is most wonderful how in every family of birds, even the most strongly marked, 
there is a preeminently aerial, formed for flight & great movement in the air, & likewise 
rasorial species & likewise perching (Gould), 57 but the latter is obvious because all 
are so. — 
Thus in Hawks there is a swallow, both in structure & habits (it cannot be doubted 

53 unidentified. 

54 George Robert Waterhouse. 

55 John Gould ; cf. Proc. Zool. Soc, 1834, Part II, p. 14. 

56 cf. ibid., p. 25. 

57 General statements to this effect are to be found in Gould's Introduction to The Birds of Europe, 
London, 1837, and in his Monograph of the Trogonidae, London, 1835-8. 



i 4 8 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

that if swallow perished hawks & milvulus &c would instantly fill up their place.) — 
Humming bird there is strongly marked variety in the Tyrannidae. — Milvulus. — 

112 Even flying woodpeckers, with powerful wings, but | tail stiff. — swallow & goat- 
sucker likewise exaggerated. — There is one most remarkable connection between 
these aerial representatives of the different families. — that sexes have same plumage. 
— this is applicable to swallow-hawk, (this not the case in swallow ??? which is 
most wonderful of all? whether in most aerial of swallow) Milvulus. & still more 
wonderfully to the Humming bird, which is one instance of its whole family where 
female is not dull. — I must observe that this pre-eminent structure is not always 
applicable to same habits, though swallow hawk milvulus may catch insects on the 

113 wing & pratancola (? connected | with Chionis), yet the Tropic bird, has very different 
habits, though pre-eminently belonging to this type. ? Humming bird? the wood- 
pecker Gould says he believes does but also on fruit. — 

The Rasorial type is wonderfully shown in the long legged cuckoos with claw like 
lark (one in Australia is called swamp pheasant) goatsucker, parrots with claw like 
lark (N.B. The La jeune veuve parrot though so much on the ground has not this 

114 structure, instance of habit going before structure.) — | even one Kingfisher Gould 
has seen with long tarsi. — ground woodpecker Secretary bird. — & Mellisuga Kingii 
very rasorial for type. — Now here I must observe these characters vary in degree 
in last instance hardly at all developed, not confined to one species, but generally 
small genus ? are there not many ground parrots ? are there not many ground wood- 
peckers ? — 

In each division Gould thinks he can trace structure for insects & structure for 
vegetation. — | 

115 In conservation in Museum I could not discover any other clear relations besides 
aerial, & terrestrial — How is it in water birds. — there are walking forms in water 
birds. — but no web forms in land birds. — Groups of very different value have their 
representatives, the rasorial may be observed even in Lessonia &c. &c. 

In relations of affinity all organs change together, in analogy certain parts perfect 
of typical structure certain parts changed | 

116 Has S. Africa & Australia, & S. America very few forms in common, but each 
several with Europe & northern Asia, & Northern America. — may we not look at 
these Northern regions as the receptacles of the wanderers out of the rest of the 
world? — Will this not agree with Waterhouse 58 & mammalia. — We have clear 
indication | 

141 have elapsed. — let these families take domestic animals with them they might be 
supposed to change & make genera of birds analogous, animals would be possessed 
by the different races of man, yet altogether different. — To make this case perfect, 
we must suppose men instead of mere colour & trifling form & lead on to become 
greatly changed in structure & even to certain degree in habits, yet we may have 
there analogies. — We must try [?] races of such men living in same country but 

142 separated, now | if one or the other race had become eminently aquatic, (N.B. 
aquatic i.e. relation to element & not minding particular trades.) — then the second 

58 George Robert Waterhouse contributed the section on Mammalia in the Zoology of the Voyage of 
the Beagle, London, 1839, i.e., published after this note was written by Darwin. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 149 

race would not obtain a cast of washing men, but might have the preexisting race, 
thus the analogy would not in all cases be produced, but would depend on exclusion. — 
The same characters which are analogical in a genus with respect to rest of its 
family as in ground cuckoos, is affinity with respect to species of each other, because 
we suppose all descended from same. — but if two original species, each became 
ground, then the relation of all the ground cuckoos would not be affinity, but the 
truth would never be discovered. | 

147 The quantity of life on planet at different periods depends on relations of desert, 
open ocean, &c. This probably on long average equal quantity, 2° on relation of 
heat & cold, therefore probably fewer now than formerly. The number of forms 
depends on the external relations (a fixed quantity) & on subdivision of stations & 
diversity, this perhaps on long average equal. | 

148 The Cocos & Mar on the Mahe islands, on the higher parts & only on those & the 
islets separated at high water, not other islands, nor on any other part of world, no 
other plants peculiar to these isl ds . Can not bear the least salt water. Nuts prodi- 
giously heavy (when trees of such nature far apart, must have travelled by each tree 
dying & mountain torrents, but to crawl up an hill, thereby deaths !!) looks like 
subsidence on the islets | 

161 examine structure of this bird & get account of habits. 

My definition of species has nothing to do with hybridity, is simply, an instinctive 
impulse to keep separate, which no doubt be overcome, but until it is these animals 
are distinct species. 

If any one is staggered at feathers & scales passing into each other let him look at 
wings & orbits of Penguin & then he will cease to doubt : Scales into Teeth in Bony 
Pike (Waterhouse) | 

162 It would be curious to know whether variety could be transmitted more easily in 
those born without coitus, than with. Magazine of Zool. & Bot. Vol. II p. — Dr 
Johnston 59 on Entomostraca Daphnia produce young, capable of producing young 
many times & lay two sorts of eggs, one remaining through winter. Might be given 
as a hopless difficulty, except as distinct creation. — Generation may be viewed as 
condensor. Must (on my theory) — supported by foetal lower developed forms. — 
(N.B. Waterhouse says of affinity of many insects may be told by their larvae) but 
the acts of condensing must alter method of generation. — Heaven knows how. — 
This reaction takes place in every organ. Hence method of generation is very good 
general character in those animals where much change has been added, as it speaks 
to amount of change only & not kind : insects, vertebrata — plants, at first classi- 
fication on generation might appear convention | 

183 Erasmus 60 says he has seen old stallion tempted to cover old mare by being shown 
young one. — 

Many African monkeys in Fernando Po — no new forms only species! 

No salamanders (D'Orbigny Rapport p. 11) in S. America so highly developed 

59 W. Baird, " The natural history of the British Entomostraca ", Magazine of Zoology and Botany, 
vol. 2, 1837-8 ; on p. 406 : " it is ascertained that one single copulation is sufficient not only to fecundate 
the mother for her life, but all the female descendants for several successive generations ". The reference 
to Johnston' is obscure. 

60 Erasmus Alvey Darwin, Darwin's elder brother. 



150 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

in North. 61 — Icht[h]iology of S. America more peculiar than its ornithology p. 12 do. 
excepting salmons. 

L'Institut Sorex from Mauritius 62 p. 112 ; & paper on genus. | 

184 Magazine of Zool. & Bot. Vol. I, p. 456 4 instances of hybrids between pheasam 
& Black fowl. 63 — use as argument possibly some few hybrids in nature. — 

p. 473 Webb & Berthelot 64 must be studied on Canary islands. 64A Endeavour to 
find out whether African forms (anyhow not Australian) on Peak. Did Creator 
make all new, yet forms like neighbouring continent. 

Chapter ten translated by Hooker. — my theory explains this but no other will. 
St Helena (& flora of Galapagos ?) same condition Keeling Isld. shows when proper 
dampness seeds arise quick enough. Vegetation of Peak altogether original 65 owing 
to being oldest & having undergone change ? ? no near lofty country p. 475. N.B. 
This bears on fossils of Europe, those species which can migrate remaining constant 
in form, others altered much, these others will be plants & land animals & land shells 
— all in short. Extreme North = to peak of Tejde in relation to surrounding 
countries & present tropical count [ries . . . 

185 p. 564 an abstract of Mr. Swainsons 66 views which if abstract true are wonderfully 
absurd. — 

p. 565 Scotch wild Cattle breed freely with the tame. 67 Vol. II Magazine of Zoology 
p. 56 Peregrine Falcon holds birds for some time alive ? therefore other species mice 
& only kills them when urged by hunger. 68 — 

p. 65. Aberrant groups 69 few in numbers & vary much in character, divided into 
many small genera ".' circumstances not favourable to many species, same circum- 
stances which by causing death makes the group aberrant | 

186 When species rare we infer extermination when group few in number of kind, 
extermination. — New forms made through probably an infinite number of forms. — 
therefore an isolated form probably a remnant. — Pachydermata & Horses few forms 
& they are remnants. — Cephalopoda ditto. — 

Mag. of Zool. & Bot. Vol. II p. 125. Allusion to abortive spiracles in Hemiptera. 70 

61 Alcide D'Orbigny, Voyage dans V Amerique meridionale , ....... 

62 L'Institut, avril 1838, p. 112, " Le Sorex sonneratii . . . deux exemplaires recueillis par les freres 
Verreaux dont l'un provient de Java et l'autre de l'ile Maurice ". 

63 William Thompson, " On hybrids produced in a wild state between the Black-Grouse (Tetrao tetrix) 
and common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 1, 1837, p. 450. 

64 P. Barker Webb & S. Berthelot, Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 1, 1837, p. 473 : " ' Aspect 
g6n6ral de la v6g6tation des iles Canaries ' has been already well translated in Dr Hooker's Botanical 
Miscellany ". 

64 a P. Barker- Webb & S. Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries, Paris 1836. 

65 Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 1, 1837, " Reviews and critical analysis (Histoire naturelle 
des Iles Canaries) ", p. 475 : " The Peak itself, the " Teyda ", the vegetation of these wild regions is 
found to be altogether original ". 

66 Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 1, 1837, pp. 545-66, " Dr Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. 
Natural History, i. On the Geography and Classification of Animals. By W. S. Swainson ". 

67 ibid., p. 565, " We know, beside, that they breed freely with the common ox, and that the progeny 
produced from the cows is also productive ". 

68 William Thompson, " Contributions to the Natural History of Ireland ", Magazine of Zoology and 
Botany, vol. 2, 1837-8, pp. 42-57 ; on p. 53 : " still retaining its first victim, secured the second with 
its other foot, and bore both off together ". 

69 G. Johnston, " Miscellanea Zoologica ", Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 2, 1837-8, pp. 63-73. 

70 John Obadiah Westwood, " Notes upon Sub-aquatic Insects, with the description of a new Genus of 
British Staphylinidae ", Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 2, 1837-8, pp. 124-132, 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 151 

do. p. 160. Soft plumage of night jar like owls. 71 analogy in habits adaptation to 
nocturnal habits — to cats &c. — must be acquired by my theory else my theory 
not applicable | 

205 L'Institut 1838 p. 128 Extraordinary genus Mesites bird from Madagascar uniting 
pidgeons & gallinaceous birds & parrots. 72 — legs of pidgeon perfect. — &c. &c. 
do. p. 136 Ichthyosaurus in the Chalk. 73 

Those who say philosophically to a certain extent, nothing but experience will 
tell us when group is true, — there are no genera if mammalia are adduced, say 
oh look to your fossils, now if extinction had gone, without creation this would have 
been fair, but to place all that ever have lived into one list is unfair (moreover what 
will become of the future creations, if the list is now perfect. — ) the creator so 
creates animals, it will be said, that although at any one there are gaps yet altogether 
he has created a perfect chain *** supra on next page | 

206 It is a fact pregnant with something? that intermediate species have generally 
perfect organs of two adjoining families & not all organs blending away. — do 
changes of habits affect particular organs. — 

***Hopeless work to systematist, who believed that all his divisions merely marked 
his own ignorance. The collector was plodding at making a series, which would 
render our knowledge a chaos : who will doubt this if series now existed from man to 
monad — though physiology would profit if the series were believed to pass into 
each other. — 

Different classes keep to their types with different degrees of closeness — look 
how close birds ! look at Mammals, how wide. — therefore birds younger ???! or 
have not been exposed to so many contingencies ??? | 

209 some of the Ostriches were to die, then they would appear isolated. 

In my birds from S. Hemisphere there are some godwits which are close to European 
species, and the sexes of which vary in colour of plumage in same remarkable manner 
as European species = singular coincidence if distinct creation. — i.e. — a mere 
statement nothing is explained. — this is fact analogous to mocking thrush of Gala- 
pagos having tone of voice like S. American. — 

Have not Ruffs & Reeves a remarkably varying plumage for wild birds — | 

210 At Zoolog. Garden there is half Jackal & Scotch Terrier — certainly more like 
Jackal in gait, size, fur ; manner in which ears droop like dog in character, & manner 
of wagging tail habitual movement connected with mood. — 

There is no progression in the development in instincts in the orders of insects, 
so is there none of reason in orders of mammals. — Mem. Elephants & dog. 
There is one living spirit prevalent over this world, (subject to certain contingencies 
of organic matter & chiefly heat), which assumes a multitude of forms each having 
acting principle according to subordinate laws. — There is one thinking sensible 
principle (intimately allied to one kind of | 

71 W. B. Clarke, " Observations on Caprimulgus europaeus (night-jar) ", Magazine of Zoology and Botany, 
vol. 2, 1837-8, pp. 158-63. 

72 M. Bernier, L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 128 : " [Mesites] analogue par ses pattes au Pigeon plus 
qu'a aucun autre group, par ses ailes a la plupart des vrais Gallinaces ". 

73 A. Courcier, L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 136 : " Presence de l'lchthyosaure dans la craie ". 



152 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

213 Major Mitchell 74 is not aware that Australian dogs ever hunt in company — marked 
difference with dogs of La Plata & Guyana — people will say not species. — 

Organs of generation a capital character (Owen) 75 not for first & grandest division, 
but for one of very high order, not for vertebrata. but mammalia & reptiles &c. 

Timor is connected with Australia — Map to King's 76 Australia — by a bank of 
soundings of which there appears to be one line in which greatest depth is not more 
than 60 F. & in the whole area 120 is greatest (about 200 miles distant). — directly 
beyond produced line of Timor 213. What productions Sandal Wood Isl d .? ought 
to agree with Java ?? j 

214 Terrestrial Planariae assuming bright colours; good instance of colours dependent 
on localities. — 

Hamilton will give an account in his Travels in Asia Minor of the domestic animals. 
At Angora Centre of Asia Minor are the fine haired goats, which it is said cannot be 
transported from their country. — the long-haired cats are supposed to come from 
there. — All the sheep are thick-tailed. The dogs called Persian greyhounds are 
Kurdish & come also from Asia Minor. — tail like setters, long ears — colours vary, 
but form constant. — | 

215 These abortive organs in some males animals, mammae in man, capable of giving 
milk. 

The females of some moths, like glowworm have rudimentary wings so nature 
can produce in sex what she does in species of Apterix. 

This is important because if these abortive wings in the female are allowed to the 
fully organized wings of the male rendered abortive in the womb — if these apparently 
useless organs do indicate such origin, then we are bound to consider abortive organs 
of same tendency in species, this is capital & novel argument. — (there is paper by 
Yarrell 77 in Zoolog. Transactions & Hunter 78 on this subject). Are there any abortive 
organs in neuter bee, because if so as she can be converted into female, it will be 
splendid argument. Old female turning into cocks, abortive spurs growing. — | 

216 Are there any abortive organs produced in domesticated animals, in plants I 
presume there are ? get examples. — for instance where a tendril passes into a 
mere stump. — Shall abortive organs of very same kind in these cases, have plain 
meaning and none in other case! 

Savigny 79 has shown same fundamental organs even in Haustellata & mandi- 
bulata. — !! Argument where general argument is extended from species to genera 
& classes. 

p. 479. fragment of tusk & molar tooth of Hippopotamus from Madagascar 80 !!!!!! 
Proceedings of Geolog. Soc. Vol. I. 

74 Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Three expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, London, 1838. 

75 Richard Owen, " Remarks on the Entozoa ", Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. 1, 1835, p. 387. 

76 Philip Parker King, Survey of the Intertropical and West Coasts of Australia, London, 1818-22. 

77 William Yarrell. Reference untraced. 

78 John Hunter, Observations on certain parts of the Animal Oeconomy, with notes by Richard Owen, 
London, 1837, pp. 422-66 : " Observations on Bees ". 

79 Marie- Jules-Cesar de Savigny, ? Memoir es sur les animaux sans vertebres, Paris, 1816. 

80 Proc. Geol. Soc, vol. 1, 1833, p. 479, " A letter was afterwards read from Mr Telfair to Sir Alexander 
Johnson, accompanying a specimen of recent conglomerate rock from the island of Madagascar, containing 
fragments of a tusk and part of a molar tooth of a hippopotamus ". 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 153 

It is capable of demonstration that all animals have never at any one time formed 
chain, since if cretaceous period assumed, then some perished before, carboniferous 
some perished | 

221 male glow worm knowing female good case of instinct, bees turning neuter into 
Queen, more wonderful case. 

Dwight's 81 Travels in America, speaks of short-legged sheep, hereditary proceed- 
ing from an accident. New England farmer — useful could not leap fences : — Dr 
Lang 82 (quoted) on Polynesian nation p. 4. — do. p. 186 quote Burkhardt 83 to show 
black colour of certain Arabs. — N.B. avoid quoting these hackneyed cases. | 

222 Mr. Edw. Blyth 84 does not believe in circular or linear arrangement. — Thinks 
passage very rare, in anatomical structure. — the passage between owls & hawks 
only external, intermediate groups often have full structure of one class & full of 
second — - this class if analogous to petrel-grebe external appears to be a puzzle 
against my theory. — 

If I be asked by what power the creator has added thought to so many animals of 
different types, I will confess my profound ignorance. — but seeing such passions 
acquired | 
225 element of extreme difficulty in mundine geological chronology. 

Annals of Natural History Vol. I ?? p. 318 some remarks on Bonaparte's 85 list of 
birds in Europe & N. America on closely allied species replacing each other, good to 
consult. 

p. 326 wild ass extending over 90 ° of Long. & Col. Sykes 86 alludes to some other 
case of 180 ° & great diff. of Lat d . 

p. 355. Echidna of Van Diemen's land & Australia different. 87 Temminck 
Fauna Japonica (??) 82 Mammalia 88 
p. 293 Phalangista 89 of Australia & Van Diemen's land diff. — | 

81 Timothy Dwight, Travels in New England and New York, London, 1823. 

82 John Dunmore Lang, Origin and migrations of the Polynesian nation, London, 1834. 

83 John Lewis Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia, London, 1829. 

84 Edward Blyth, " Observations on the various seasonal and other external changes which regularly 
take place in Birds, more particularly in those which occur in Britain ; with Remarks on their great 
Importance in indicating the true Affinities of Species ; and upon the Natural System of Arrangement ", 
Magazine of Natural History, vol. 9, 1836 pp. 393-409 ; on p. 407 : " [referring to those who] hold that 
every natural assemblage of species, great or small, forms part of some quinary circle. Now, I cannot 
but observe here ... I should think that a due consideration of this first binary distribution must at once 
carry conviction of the mind, must be at once a most unanswerable argument against all quinary or 
similar doctrines . . ." 

85 Charles Louis Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano, " A geographical and comparative list of Birds of 
Europe and North America ", Annals of Natural History, vol. 1, 1838, pp. 318-320. 

86 Annals of Natural History, vol. 1, 1838, p. 322, " Proceedings of Learned Societies ... A Paper was 
read by Colonel Sykes, ' On the identity of the Wild Ass of Cutch and the Indus, with the Dzeggetai 
(Equus hemionus of Pallas) '." 

87 Annals of Natural History, vol. 1, 1838, p. 335 : " Miscellaneous ". ... On the two species of 
Echidna, by J. E. Gray. " Sir E. Home, in his paper in the Phil. Trans, for 1802, figured two specimens 
of this animal, and Cuvier (Regne Animal, vol. i, p. 225) considered them as two species, naming the one 
Echidna Hystrix, and the other E. setosa ; but most succeeding zoologists have regarded them as a single 
species . . . The E. Hystrix, Cuv. . . . came from the continent of New Holland, while E. setosa, Cuv. . . . 
is confined to Van Diemen's Land ". 

88 Annals of Natural History, vol. 1, 1838, p. 335 : " Miscellaneous " . . . " Zoology of Java ". " Tem- 
minck, in the Fauna Japonica, states, that he knows 82 kinds of mammalia, 455 birds, and 90 species of 
amphibia, as inhabiting that Island, although the interior is almost entirely unknown ". 

89 John Edward Gray, " A reply to Mr Ogilby's Communication to the Annals of Natural History 
respecting Phalangista cookii ", Annals of Natural History, vol. 1, 1838, pp. 293-7. 



154 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

226 Habits can only be used in classification as indication of structure (including 
brains & other organs difficult to analyse), will not this separate facts about abortive 
organs &c. 

The doctrine of monsters 90 is preeminently worthy of study on the idea of those 
parts being most easily mortified which last produced — insane men in civilized 
countries — this is well worthy of investigation. | 

227 Institut 1838 p. 174. Apercu very good on insectivorous quadrupeds — geo- 
graphical range very good. — Blainville 91 

Ovington's 92 voyage to Surat floating isl d off coast of Africa p. 69 with tall grass, 
p. 72 hairy sheep — 

Edinburgh Transact Vol. IX p. 107 An Ascaris inhabits the eyes of horses in 
India in which it may be seen swimming about. 93 

A. Smith 94 is firmly believed in representation, certain birds in many families, 
& very often in number 55 will have long tail. — in raptorial birds, & tigers & sharks, 
being spotted & colours of little value | 

228 Dr Smith 95 if black & white man crosses, children heterogenous, he feels sure of 
this, first offspring most like mother. — like dogs Smith knew Chinese hairless dog 
& common spaniel crossed. — 3 puppies perfectly like Chinese & 3 perfectly like 
spaniel even when grown up. — Are mules homogenious owing to no attempt to 
keep up offspring, are not half lion & tigers ditto, (see Griffith) 96 & half Muscovy 
ducks, black cock & pheasant see Jardine's Journal. 97 — consult on this point — 
pigs always go against this, without number of vertebra new acquisition, we must | 

237 .'. Those animals, which only propagate by scission can not alter much ? ! 

Mr. Brown showed me Bauer's 98 drawings of a curious plant where a tube con- 
sisting of pistils & stamens united into long organ, moved on being touched, so as to 
protect itself, one segment of the corolla being (probably) smaller to allow it to lie on 
one side. — but in other species, this segment is converted into hood which possesses 

238 power of movement & not the organ itself | How except by direct adaptation has 
such a change been effected. — the consciousness of the plant that this part must be 
protected however it may be effected. — 

Prodromus Florae Norfolkicae. 1833 Steph. Endlicher" (He will give sketch of 

90 John Hunter, in Richard Owen, Descriptive and illustrated Catalogue of the Physiological Series of 
Comparative Anatomy contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, London, 1833, 
vol. 1, p. iv. 

91 Henri-Marie de Blainville, L' Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 174, Zoologie : Mammiferes Insectivores. 

92 John Ovington, Voyage to Suratt 1689, London, 1696. 

93 Alexander Kennedy, " Account of a non-descript Worm (the Ascaris pellucidus) found in the eyes 
of Horses in India ", Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, vol. 9, 1823, p. 107. 

94 Andrew Smith, possibly personal communication. 

95 ditto ; cf also Edward Blyth, " An attempt to classify the varities of animals ", Magazine of Natural 
History, vol. 8, 1835, pp. 40-53 ; on p. 52 : " The mixed offspring of different varieties of Man thus 
generally blends the character of each, though instances are not wanting of its entirely resembling . . . 
either one or the other of its parents ". 

96 Edward Griffith, The Animal Kingdom arranged in conformity with Us organization, by the Baron 
Cuvier . . . with additional descriptions of all the species, London, 1827. 

97 William Thompson, " On the hybrids produced in a Wild State between the Black-Grouse (Tetrao 
tetrix) and the Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. 1, 1837, 
P- 45o. 

98 Ferdinand Bauer, in Matthew Flinders, A Voyage to Terra Australis, London, 1814, vol. 2. 

99 Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher, Prodromus Florae Norfolkicae ; sive catalogus stirpium quae in insula 
Norfolk annis 1805-5 • Ferdinando Bauer collectae , . . Vindobonae, 1833. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 155 

botany of islands of south sea says so in preface. — Mr. Brown 100 says character of 
Flora N. Zealand & N. Caledonia with a dash of New Holland, same species as in 

239 N. Zealand — Some species of Australian Genera | same (Palm & &hormium tenax) 
as in New Zealand & Australia, some species of Australian genera .'. good case, 
rather large flora (150 ?) 

Mr. Brown did not observe scarcely any Australian character in Timor plants, 
yet it seems there may be Eucalyptus! — (Hostile fact) 

Be cautious about Goulds 101 case of birds of Van Diemens land & Australia. — 
The wombat (Brown) 102 is found in Is d of Bass's Straits | 

240 The common mushroom & other cryptogamic plants same in Australia & 
Europe. 103 — if creation be absolute theory, the creation must take place as when 
creator sees the means of transport fail. — otherwise no relation between means of 
transport & creation exists. — pool may have been created at many spots & since 
disseminated. 

See Habits of Malay fowls 104 p. 5 (note) on some papers on instincts 105 | 

241 LTnstitut 1838 p. 184 Botany of Bonin 106 " grande analogic avec la Flore du 
Japon ", some European & Sandwich species & some of Japan. I do not under- 
stand any new ones. — Memoir will be published St. Petersbourgh Academy Imperial. 
Paper read in 1837 semestre.. 

I suspect some valuable analogies might be drawn between habitual actions of 
plants when exciting cause is absent & memory of animals. — (surely in plants | 

242 movements effects of irritability, though means injection of fluid different from 
contraction of fibre) — it is most remarkable habitual action in plants, it allows of 
any degree in lowest animals habitual action in intestines subject to sympathetic 
nerves — 

The vividness of first memory in children or rather their memory, very remarkable 
— scenes in themselves accidental — my first thought of sea side — | 
249 N.B. I met an old man who told me that the mules between canary birds & gold- 
finches differed considerably in their colour & appearance. Every now & then — 
short-tailed cat ?cut? has its offspring short tails /one born at Maer 

Tuckeys Voyage 107 p. 36 " Cercopithecus sabaeus " said to be monkey of St Jago 
C de Verds ; same as on coast of Africa. — Macleay tells me same thing, p. 55. 
40 leagues from land several patches of reeds & trees. 108 p. 259. 120 ft in length. 

100 Robert Brown, in Matthew Flinders, A Voyage to Terra Australis, London, 1814, Appendix III ; 
possibly also personal communication. 

101 John Gould, Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the adjacent islands, London, 1837-8. 

102 p roc _ Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 49, the wombat " was brought from one of the islands in Bass's Straits ". 

103 Robert Brown, in Matthew Flinders, Voyage to Terra Australis, London, 1814, Appendix III, p. 
539 : " southern extremity of Van Diemen's Island, where the necessary conditions exist, the relative 
proportion of Cryptogamous plants is not materially different from that of the south of Europe ". 

104 reference untraced. 

105 John Oliver French, " An inquiry respecting the true nature of instinct, ..." Zoological Journal, 
vol. 1, 1825, pp. 1-3, 153-173. 346-366. 

106 Heinrich Gustav Bongard, L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 184, " M6moire sur la vegetation des lies 
de Bonin " ; original in Bull. Scient. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Peter sbourg, tome 2, 1838, pp. 369 — 372. 

107 James Kingston Tuckey, Narrative of an Expedition to explore the River Zaire, usually called the 
Congo 1816 . . ., London, 1818. 

108 ibid., p. 55, " When forty leagues from the land, several floating patches of reeds and trees passed 
us ", 



i 5 6 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S SECOND 

some branches of Justicia still growing passed us. 109 | 

250 do. p. 243 (Professor Smith's Journal) on the heights of St. Jago found a Euphorbia 
so near Piscatoria as scarcely to be distinguished from it. 110 — & several old acquaint- 
ances which grow on the lower region of the Canary islands. — p. 250 admirable 
table of plants of St. Jago showing many common to Canary isl d , Europe, & St. 
Jago upper region, & some to Cape. — some proper well worth studying, with 

251 respect to forms. — | Study Appendix 111 to Tuckey's Expedition 

Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia Vol. VII Part II 1837 
accounts of the various hares some since discovered of N. America, 112 & of the shrews. 

Dr Bachman 113 told me that near Charleston ? three species near New York (600 
miles N. ?) replaced by three other species. — Says all the hares West of Rocky 
Mountains have peculiar character in extreme length of ears & length of limbs, so 

252 that he first thought only one species. & all hares on East side have other | peculiar 
appearances. Now this is precisely the case with the mice of S. America with respect 
to the Cordillera. — Bachman has seen webbed shrew, case of adaptation. — (case 
of Squirrel from extreme north turning white like Hares ?) I never saw more beauti- 
ful adaptation for snow like snow shoes than feet & hind legs of these white hares, 
fitted for region of snow. — | 

257 In Holme's History of Man at Maer, 114 it is said the Samoyed women (PNorth end 
of the Oural mountains) have black nipples to their breasts. — 

L'Institut, 1838, p. 230 says the Macrotherium of Europe is between the anteater 
of Good Hope & those of S. America. 115 — Are not some of the Australian fossils 
intermediate between those of Van Diemen's land & Australia proper. — Irish Elk 
case of fossil geographical range. | 

258 [blank] 

109 ibid., p. 259, "120 feet in length and consisting of reeds resembling the Donax, and a species of 
Agrostis, among which were still growing some branches of Justicia ". These notes show that Darwin 
was already concerned with the survival of land organisms in sea water. 

110 ibid., p. 243, " I found at last an Euphorbia, that bore so near a resemblance to piscatoria as scarcely 
to be distinguished from it ". 

111 ibid. Appendix V, p. 420, is by Robert Brown, "Observations, Systematical and Geographical 
on Professor Christian Smith's Collection of Plants from the Vicinity of the River Congo." 

112 John Bachman, " Observations on the different species of Hares (genus Lepus) inhabiting the 
United States and Canada ", Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 7, 1837, p. 282. 

113 ibid., p. 358 ; also personal communication. 

114 Henry Holme, Lord Karnes, Sketches of the History of Man, London, 1774. 

115 Henri-Marie de Blainville, " D6pot d'ossements fossiles de Sanson ", L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, 
p. 230 : " Macrotherium, qui demontre en Europe l'existence d'un genre intermediate au Pangoline et 
a YOrycteryx d'Afrique et aux Fourmiliers d'Am^rique ". 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 157 

Pages excised from Third Notebook 
III 

5 W. D. Fox 1 has a cat which he bought in Portsmouth, said to come from coast of 
Guinea, — ears bare, skin black & wrinkled — fur short (tail cut off in progeny 
peculiar) limbs very long, eyes very large, very fierce to dogs. — ■ otherwise habits not 
different ; tone of voice perhaps rather different. Crossed with common cat, exact 
variety unknown, three kittens alike each other, partaking very closely of form of 
mother : more than of the common cat. — ([in pencil:] Ch IX Mongrels Hybrids) 
Fox has half Persian cat which bred with unknown common house cat. — had four 

6 kittens, two appeared | so very like common cat, that they were killed & other two 
very closely resembled in form of tail, fur &c. to the half bred Persian. — Here then 
we have clear case of heterogenous offspring from one impregnation. Pis this one 
impregnation, or two impregnations one giving half character & other more of English, 
but the effect is the same. — 

7 Fox thinks that when a wild animal is crossed with a | tame, offspring always takes 
most after wild. — i.e. that no domesticated ones have been so long as wild one 
under present form. — Fox has seen several cases of foxes and dogs crossed, off- 
spring always more resembled foxes than dogs (mem Jackal in Zoolog. Gardens) 
He has seen in a show half wolf & half Esquimaux dog which appeared to be inter- 
mediate between two parents. — ■ this is very interesting as Esquimaux dog approaches 
to species. Again he has seen several crosses between Esquimaux dog & common 

8 dogs & Fox thinks they decidedly take | much more after Esquimaux. — this agrees 
perfectly with Yarrell 2 & no leading question was put. — 

Fox thinks half Lion & Tigers are exactly intermediate in character & kittens alike 
each other. — ■ 

Even in children of parents one sometimes resembles one parent & one another 
& are not exactly intermediate. — | 

11 & another leader mare. — this stallion though eager to all other mares had been 
entirely broken from these mares, (though horsing every month) & worked in the 
same cart in loose chains, by being at first beaten from her, & always accustomed to 
her. — even parallel to brothers & sisters in mankind. — 

The case of all blue eyed cats (Fox has seen repeated cases) being deaf curious 
case of corelation of imperfect structure. — | 

12 Fox says in Lord Exeter's Park or in the Duke of Marlborough there is a breed of 
white-tailed squirrels, which form a marked wild variety, doubtful whether all are 
white. Fox says half Muscovy. 

Fox says a settler near Swan river lost his two cows entirely, changed his residence 

a great many miles — yet one day a cow walked in, then disappeared, & three days 

afterwards came again, bringing with her the other & younger cow. — | 

29 Mr. Blyth 3 remarked that greater difference in the 4 Struthionidae, than in many 

large orders of birds. The Emu & Cassowary closest. — Ostrich & Rhea closest. — 

1 William Darwin Fox, personal communication. 

2 William Yarrell ; this and the following pages read like notes taken at a discussion meeting of the 
Zoological Society. 

3 Edward Blyth. 



158 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S THIRD 

(& 2 Rheas still closer). — Mr. Blyth asked whether structure of pelvis &c was not 
adaptive structure, like little wings of Auk which does not make that bird a Penguin. 
— (i.e. whether relation in one point or many) Owen 4 answered that all characters 
might be considered as adaptative and that he did not see where the line could be 
drawn. — thus the most remarkable character in Apteryx, small respiratory system ; 

30 even much smaller | than in other Struthios was adaption to little movement. — 
nocturnal crawling bird. — Wings reduced to rudiment. — clavicle scapula &c. 
strongly developed to aid in breathing. — 

Animals from Hobart Town mentioned, it seems most of species from there now 
found in Australia. — 

New species of Moschus characterized by Ogilby. 5 who observed that the young 
of this animal which is so anomalous among true deer yet is spotted like so many 
deer. — very curious like some facts of Mr. Blyth on birds. — | 

31 Dr Bachman 6 tells me line of Rocky Mountains separates almost all Mammals of 
N. America & many birds, which however are most closely represented. — Thus the 
red breasted thrush is separated by one not differing except by black line. — A 
Bunting by one only differing by some permanent white streaks. — &c. &c. 

Dr Bachman has crossed cock Guinea Fowl with Pea Hen. — offspring female, 

32 yet so infertile never even in seven years produced even an egg. — | a most curious 
bird, did not seem to know itself, at last associated with the ducks. — most strange 
voice often in the night, like peacock. — tail as long as Pea hen. — - about inter- 
mediate. — (In Zoolog. Garden there is hybrid of Penguin duck a variety of Muscovy 
with goose !!) 

Dr Bachman regularly breeds in Carolina for his table Muscovy & common ducks — 
they are produced in full equal numbers with pure bred (just like common mules) 

33 & lay many eggs but never produce inter se or with | parent species. — • The hybrids 
do not vary (i.e. the hens all alike & cocks all alike) more than parent species. — Mr. 
Blyth remarked only near species or varieties produce heterogenous offsprings. — 
are not the hybrid pheasant & grouse different — (if so Chinese pigs & common 
must be considered as distant species ?? or is time the varying element). Then do 
those species which breed most freely & produce somewhat fertile offspring produce 
heterogenous offspring. 

It appears certain that hybrid Muscovy & common duck have been shot wild 
(escaped from Carolina)? off New York, therefore instincts not imperfect. Are 
Pheasant & Grouse homogenous? | 

34 I observe Bachman calls these Hybrids new species. 

Yarrell says the bird fanciers say the throw of any two species crossed is uncertain. 

Yarrell remarks he has somewhere met conjecture that all salt-water [recte fresh 
water] fish were once salt water (as they almost must have been on elevation of 
continents) but Ogilby well answers that nearly all F.W. Fish are Abdominals ,*. that 
order first converted. — is it an old order geologically? | 

4 Richard Owen. 

5 William Ogilby. 

6 Rev. John Bachman. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 159 

53 will come from common stock. — all genera common stock — so that values can 
only be judged if in each separate line of descent. — & here limits of varieties being 
constant it would be exceedingly wrong to call one group genus & other subgenus. — 
Propagation best rule for genera, & so mount upwards, judged by analogy. — Con- 
sider all this. 

N.B. How can local species as in Galapagos, be distinguished from temporal 
species as in two formations ? by no way.? — j 

54 " Natura nihil agit frustra " as Sir Thomas Browne 7 says " is the only indisputable 
axiom in Philosophy Religio Medici Vol. II Sir T. Browne's works p. 20. 

" There are no grotesques in nature ; not anything framed to fill up empty con- 
tours, & unnecessary spaces " p. 23 "for Nature is the act of God " — after Decan- 
dolles idea 

Septemb 1. It has been argued man first civilized add this in note. ?mere con- 
jecture? — Australians. — Americans &c. | 

55 Septemb. 1. Macleay 8 & Broderip 9 when talking of some Crustacean, like 
Trilobite (Polirus ??) female blind & quite different form from male with eyes! — 
(are not these differences in sex confined to annulosa?) remarked that young of 
Cirrhipedes can move & see, parents fixed, — young of sponges move. — young of 
Cochineal insects move about & see, parent female fixed & blind : — Macleay ob- 
served all these facts proves that perfection of organs have nothing to do with perfection 
of individual, though such relation seems common, but the perfection consists in 
being able to reproduce. | 

56 Here there is some error — Observed, nature does nothing in vain, therefore organs 
fitted to animals place in creation. — thus senses, especially sight connected with 
locomotion. (Mem. Dr. Blackwell (Abercrombie) 10 comparison of sight to threads.) 
— Hence the Pecten which moves imperfectly has eye-point, but Brodrip added it 
has been stated that stationary Spondylus has eye-points — Macleay then answered, 
because nature leaves vestiges of what she does — does not move per saltum — yet 
does nothing in vain!! | 

61 Waterhouse knows three species of Paradoxurus 11 common to Van Diemen's 
land & Australia. Well developed mammae in male ourang-outang other point of 
resemblance with man. 

September 3i d Magazine of Natural History 12 1838 II p. 492. Mr. Gould 13 on 
Australian birds, all Eagles of Australia characterized by wedge tails, many of the 
hawks are analogous to European birds, also do. p. 403 & 404. 

7 Sir Thomas Browne, Works, edited by S. Wilkin, London, 1835-6. 

8 William Sharp MacLeay. 

9 William John Broderip (cf. Life &â–  Letters of Darwin, 1887, vol. 1, p. 274). 

10 ? John Abercrombie, Inquiries concerning the intellectual powers and the Investigation of Truth, 
London, 1838. 

11 By " Paradoxurus " Darwin meant Ornithorhynchus paradoxus ; personal communication from 
George Robert Waterhouse. 

12 Under the abbreviation " Magazine of Natural History ", Darwin has confused two different publi- 
cations which, unfortunately, both published a volume 2 in 1838 : they were, Annals of Natural History 
or Magazine of Zoology, Botany and Geology, and, Magazine of Natural History. 

13 John Gould, Birds of Australia and the adjacent islands, London, 1827-8. Neither journal mentioned 
in the previous footnote in vol. 2, p. 402 has a paper by Gould, but Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. 2, 1838, has, 
beginning on p. 399, a paper by Brehm, " Observations on some of the domestic instincts of Birds " ; 
on pp. 402-4 there are references to birds of prey. 



160 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S THIRD 

Vol. II do. (p. 71) allusion to Eyton's discovery of different number of vertebrae 
in Irish 14 & English hare, good case these hares compared to South American hares, 
many species separated by mountains &c &c &c | 

62 do. p. 69, a Dr Macdonald 15 believes the Quaternary arrangement & not the 
Quinary, anyone may believe anything in such rigmarole about analogies & numbers. 

L'Institut p. 275 (1838) Mr Blainville 16 has written paper to show Stonesfield 
Didelphis not Didelphis. answered satisfactorily by Valenciennes. 

The change from caterpillar to butterfly is not more wonderful than the body of 
a man undergoing a constant round, each particle is placed in place of last by the 
ordering of the nerves, but in different parts according to age of individuals (see 

63 mammae of women) in different parts when age | changes caterpillars into Butterfly. 
When two varieties of dog cross, Erasmus says it looks like . . . j 

64 Institut 1837 P- 35 1 Paradoxurus Philippensis. Phillipines . . , 17 | 

73 as at present in new Ireland & continent since grown. — This will explain S. American 
case of Didelphis being mundine form., & the less development of Marsupials in S. 
America, from presence of Edentata — Edentata & Marsupials have been almost 
destroyed wherever other animals existed. — 

Athenaeum 1838. p. 654 Reason given for supposing Tetrao Rakkelhan a hybrid 
produced commonly in Nature both in Sweden & anciently in Britain) between hen 
Capercailkie & cock Black-cock. 18 — (Curious the readiness with which this genus 
becomes crossed. Pis red game an hybrid? ■ — | 

74 When I show that islands would have no plants were it not for seeds being floated 
about, — I must state that the mechanism by which seeds are adapted for long 
transportation, seems to imply knowledge of whole world — if so doubtless part of 
system of great harmony. 

The peculiar character of St. Helena. — contrast with Otaheiti in relation (See 
Gaudichauds 19 Volume on the Botany of the Pacific.) to nearest continent. — with 
respect to ancient geography of Atlantic Tristan D'Acunha ditto. Juan Fernandez 
do I 
87 which is often the case, & why should organic affections always influence the sexual 
organs alone. — 

It is singular pheasant & fowl being so totally infertile whereas animals further 
apart have bred inter se. — 
These hybrids are very wild & take in disposition after their pheasant parents. — 

14 William Thompson, " On the Irish hare ", Ann. Nat. Hist, or Mag. Zool. Bot. &- Geol., vol. 2, 1838, 
p. 70 ; on p. 71 there is an allusion to Thomas Campbell Eyton's discovery that the tail of the Irish hare 
is shorter and has 3 less vertebrae than the tail of the English hare. 

15 Ann. Nat. Hist, or Mag. Zool. Bot. <&• Geol., vol. 2, 1838, p. 69 reports a verbal communication to 
the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 9 April 1838 by Dr Macdonald. 

16 Henri-Marie de Blainville, " Doutes sur le pretendu Didelphe fossile de Stoneneld [sic] ", L'Institut, 
tome 6, 1838, p. 275. 

17 I'Institut 1837. p. 351 "... Zoologie : Mammiferes nouveaux. — M. Jourdan presente un memoirc 
dans lequel il decrit cinq Mammiferes ... 5° Paradoxure des Philippines (Paradoxurus Philippinensis 

18 Athenaeum, 1838, p. 654 : " Dr Charlton exhibited a specimen of Tetrao Rakkelhan, of Temminck, 
and read a short notice, to prove that this bird, though described as a distinct species, . . . was in fact 
nothing but a hybrid, between the hen caperzailzie and blackcock ". 

19 Charles Gaudichot-Beaupre, Botanique du Voyage autour du monde fait sur V Uranie et la Physicienne, 
Paris, 1826. The author of the entire work is Louis de Freycinet. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 161 

(There are some 3/4 birds of which I think there must be some mistake in their origin) 

Saw cross between Penguin Duck from Bombay & Canada Goose. — Former 

strange mishaped bird & looks very artificial bred but Mr. Muller says that breeds 

88 larger numbers, & rears an | unusual number out of any one nest, even more than 
common duck — Male Penguin was crossed with hen Canadian offspring, I should 
say in every respect most like Penguin duck. — which is strange anomaly in Yarrells 
Law. 20 — it probably is explained by the vigour of their propagating powers, (as 
if they were a good species or local variety & not effect of breeding in & in, like our 
pidgeons). 

The male of every animal certainly seems chiefly to impress the young most with 
its form & disposition | 

89 Saw there young duck, like each other, — (& not very like either either ... or Pintail 
ducks) from which they were descended they . . . from 1/2 pintail drake into pintail. 
— of them there were four two like each other & two dark coloured & different. — 
the former were the parents of the little ones | 

90 Same man crossed Jackal & dog (offspring did not go to teat but parts swelled, though 
no fluid came from them. — showing how gradually every change is effected) — the 
one in the garden is from father dog & hence general appearance of face & tail some- 
what like dog — though it has full share of Jackal shape | 

101 of white speckles on elbow joint — in Bewick drawing 21 the the rock Pidgeon has 
not : now how many wild pidgeon have spangles on this part : this will be well 
worth working out. — • 

Study Temmincks 22 work on Pidgeons, & see whether feathered legs, — car[r]uncles 
on beak as in Muscovy duck, crested feather, pouters, fan tails, are found in any 
colours of plumage &c &c. Pouting pidgeon exaggeration of cooing. — & compare 
them with all the varieties. — Habits of rock pidgeon. — (I suspect Pennant 23 has 
described them) — (Study horns of wild cattle. — & plumage of fowls — long ears 
of rabbits. — & long fur. — feathers on legs of Ptarmigan & in Bantam. — ) In 
the Pidgeons trace the washing out of the forked band, like in plumage of ducks. — | 

102 Mr. Yarrell says in very close species of birds, habits when well watched always 
very different. — the two redpoles can hardly be told apart, so that after differences 
were pointed out Selby confounded them, yet can readily be told by incubation & 
other peculiarities. — (Mem. Goulds Willow Wren.) — (Goulds story of Water- 
Wagtails mistaken both species scattered over Europe) — The habits of some same 
North American & European birds slightly different — Barn Owl in the former place 
breeds in thick vegetation in swamps — owing to barn, perhaps not being left open 
to them. — In singing birds, part instinctive & part acquired — thus Yarrell has 
Lark & Nightingale which both sing their own songs though imperfectly. — Male 
birds always record their songs, it | 

105 In Scandinavia besides the Rakkehan before mentioned between Capercailzie & 

20 See " Darwin's Fourth Notebook on Transmutation of Species ", Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) 
Historical Series, vol. 2, i960, p. 173, footnote 1. 

21 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, 1838, p. 174. 

22 Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Histoire naturelle g6nerale des pigeons, , 

23 Thomas Pennant, Genera of Birds, Edinburgh, 1773. 



162 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S THIRD 

Black Cock. — the latter has crossed with the Ptarmigan subalpina in wild state. — 
Neilson 24 has given figure of it. — In England no doubt the cross between Pheasant 
& Black game is owing to their rarity, as single female in wood with Pheasants would 
sure to be trod & in many parts of Scandinavia these birds are very far from common. 

— Under this predicament, probably, alone would species cross in wild state. — 
Is English red Grouse a cross between Black game & the subalpina of Sweden, (which 
in summer dress somewhat resembles Red Grouse) it may be so — but very improb- 

106 ably, for it can hardly be | thought that the cross would have adapted it to changing 
circumstances. — More probably during known changes climate became unfit for 
subalpina, or some northern species, & being restricted species has been made. — 
In the hybrid grouse between Black Cock & Ptarmigan (probably subalpina) 
former has blue breast, latter reddish, hybrid purple — be careful. See to hybrids 
between Pheasant & Black Cock & other hybrids. 

The fact of Egyptian animals not having changed is good — I scarcely hesitate to 
say that if there had been considerable change, it would have been greater puzzle, 
than none, for the enormous time | 

133 Lyells Elements. 25 p. 290 Dr Beck on numerical proportion in shells in Arctic 
Ocean, p. 350 Grallae in Wealden oldest birds, p. 411 Decapod Crust in Muschel- 
kalk & 5 genera of reptiles. — p. 417 Magnesian Limestone & Zechstein oldest rocks 
in which reptiles have been found, p. 426. Sauroid fish in coal, true fish & not 
intermediate between fish & reptile — yet osteology closely resembles reptiles, 
p. 432 some plants in coal supposed to be intermediate between coniferous trees & 
Lycopodium. — p. 437 Many existing genera of shells in the mountain limestone 
(how different from plants!) But the Cephalopoda depart more widely from living 

134 forms. — p. 458 Upper Silurian fishes oldest formation highly organized. — | do. 
p. 461 Lower Silurian — several existing genera — Nautilus, Turbo, buccinum, 
turritella, terebratula, orbicula, with many extinct forms & Trilobites. 

Sept. 25th In considering infertility of hybrids inter se. the first cross generally 
brothers & sisters & therefore somewhat unfavourable. — 

28th We ought to be far from wondering of changes in numbers of species, from 
small changes in nature of locality. Even the energetic language of Decandolle 
does not convey the warring of the species as inference from Malthus. — increase of 
brutes must be prevented solely by positive checks, excepting that famine may 
stop desire. — in nature production does not increase, whilst no check prevail, but 
the positive check of famine & consequently death. I do not doubt every one till 
he thinks deeply has assumed that increase of animals exactly proportionate to the 
number that can live. — . . 

135 Population is increase at geometrical ratio in FAR SHORTER time than 25 years 

— yet until the one sentence 26 of Malthus no one clearly perceived the great check 

24 Sven Nielson, Ornithologia Svecica, Hafniae, 181 7-21. 

25 Sir Charles Lyell, Elements of Geology, London, 1838. 

26 This note, written on 28 September 1838, makes it possible to identify the sentence in T. R. Malthus's 
Essay on the Principle of Population which enabled Darwin to see how the pressure of natural selection 
is inevitably brought to bear. It was in the 6th edition, London 1826, vol. 1, p. 6 : " It may safely be 
pronounced, therefore, that the population, when unchecked, goes on doubling itself every twenty five 
years, or increases in a geometrical ratio ", 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 163 

amongst men. — there is spring, like food used for other purposes as wheat for 
making brandy. — Even a few years plenty, makes population in man increase & 
an ordinary crop causes a dearth, take Europe on an average every species must 
have same number killed year with year by hawks, by cold &c. — even one species 
of hawk decreasing in number must affect instantaneously all the rest. — The final 
cause of all this wedging, must be to sort out proper structure, & adapt it to changes. 
— to do that for form, which Malthus shows is the final effect (by means however of 
volition) of this populousness on the energy of man. One may say there is a force 
like a hundred thousand wedges trying [to] force every kind of adapted structure 
into the gaps in the oeconomy of nature, or rather forming gaps by thrusting out 
weaker ones. — | 
136 D'Orbigny 27 Comtes Rendus p. 569. 1838 says the cross between the Guaranis & 
Spaniards are almost white from first generation, that with Quichuas the American 
character is more tenacious & does not disappear for many generations. 

Sept 29th Dr Andrew Smith. Remarks on extraordinary curiosity of Monkeys. 
The Baboon of which anecdotes have been told is Cynocephalus porcarius. — This 
monkey did not like a great coat made for it at first, but in two or three days learn 
its comfort & though could not put it on, yet threw it over | 

151 The present age is the one for large Cetacea, as the past for other Mammalia, & 
still further back reptilia & Cephalopoda. 

Old Jones 28 remarked to me that one of the children of Sir J.H. was so like Sir W. 
whilst Sir J. is himself not like — now this is a clear case of avitism. but then? was 
not the expression of Sir W. itself received from his father so that case ceases to be 
true avitism 

Annals of Natural History 29 p. 135 Natural History of the Caspian Fresh water 
Fish !! ? adapted to Salt Water? — peculiar species, crabs & molluscs few. — 
?are not some same — what is the alliance with the Black Sea. — it would be ocean, 
what is land to continent — Original Paper worth studying. Archiv fur Natur- 
geschichte. 30 | 

152 September 11 Generation Mr. Yarrell says it is well known that in breeding very 
pure South Down that the ewe must never be put to any other breed else all the 
lambs will deteriorate. — Lord Moreton's 31 case — 

When cows have twins, though capable of producing both pair of male & female. — 
if there be one female, she will be free Martin. 32 See Hunter's Owen — 

27 Alcide Dessalines D'Orbigny, " L'Homme americain (de l'Amerique m6ridionale), eonsid^re sous 
ses rapports physiologiques et moraux ", Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris tome 7, 1838, p. 569. 

28 Unidentified. 

29 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, 1838, Bibliographical Notices, p. 135, refers to subject of following 
footnote. 

30 E. Eichwald, Einige Bemerkungen iiber das kaspische Meer ", Archiv. fiir Naturgeschichte, 4ter 
Jahrgung, Bd. 1, pp. 97-112, . . . . ; on p. 97 : " Wenn gleich die grosste Zahl der Fische des Meeres 
Flussfische sind, die jedoch als solche nicht an den Miindungen der grosseren Fliisse, also da, wo das See- 
wasser suss ist, leben, so finden sich dennoch mehrere Arten, und zwar aus Gattungen, die bisher nur 
im salzigen Seewasser beobachtet wurden ". 

31 cf. " Darwin's First Notebook on Transmutation of Species ", Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Historical 
Series, vol. 2, i960, p. 63, footnote 7. 

32 John Hunter, Observations on certain parts of the Animal Oeconomy, with notes by Richard Owen, 
London, 1837, p. 34, " Account of the Free-Martin ", 



164 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S THIRD 

In the Athenaeum 33 Numbers 406, 407, 409 Quetelet papers are given & I think 
facts there mentioned about proportion of sexes, at birth & causes. | 

159 they first appear occupy their proper positions, — this would be argument for 
development of either. — (Mammae or sheath of horses penis reduced to extreme 
degree of abortion). — Insecta. — ■ hermaphrodite, being not only dimidiate, but 
quarter grown seems to show whole body imbued with possibility of becoming either 
sex. — In my theory I must allude to separation of sexes as very great difficulty, 
then give speculation to show that it is not overwhelming. — 

Seeing in Gardens of Hybrids between common & Silver Pheasant, one like cock & 
other like hen — one doubts whether they are not Hermaphrodites, like J. Hunters 
Free Martin. N.B. the common mule must often have been dissected. | 

160 Zoolog. Garden. Sept. 16. Hybrid between Silver & common Pheasant. Mule 
bird, said to be infertile. — spurs rather smaller than in silver male — Head like 
silver except in not having tuft. — back like do. — but the black lines on each 
feather instead of coming to point are more rounded. & much broader, & three I 
believe, instead of two lines, faintly edged with reddish brown — black marks on 
tail much broader. — Breast red like common pheasant — lower part of breast 
each feather is fine metallic green with tip & part of shaft metallic green. — This 
green doubtless is effect of metallic hue of silver pheasant, yet why green? & not 
purple? — leg pale coloured. — In the back feathers, we have character different 
from either parent bird — | 

173 the manner in which frogs copulate & fish show how simply instinctive the feeling 
of other sex being present is — it also shows that semen must actually reach the 
ovum. — [Why in making a bud, which is to pass through all transformations 
should there need two organs ; whilst in common bud there is no such need. — one 
would suppose that the vital portion ? nerves? passed through transformation & was 
received into bud matured by female : such view no way explains Lord Moreton's 
case : without the nervous matter consists of infinite numbers of globules : generally 
sufficient for one birth or other] II. It should be observed that the constant necessity 
for change in process of generation applies only [to] the more complicated animals. 

p. 310 She wolf took dog 34 but had such aversion to it, that she was held. Hunters 
Oeconomy. So with inter-breeding as told by Willis 35 | 

174 v. infra p. 179 continued from 

Is a flower bud produced by union of two common buds ??? Amongst buds each 
one exactly like its parents, all alike in one parent or tree, but not in other trees. — 
Why should there be a necessity that there should be something each time added 
to that kind of generation, which typifies the whole course of change from simplest 

33 Adolphe Quetelet, " On Man and the Development of his Faculties, &c. " Athenaeum, nos. 406 
407, 409, 1835 ; pp. 593-5, 61 1-3, 658-61 ; on p. 611 : " an examination of births registered in France 
during a lapse of fourteen years, that the average number of male births to female was 106*38 to 100 . . . 
he proceeds to inquire into the external circumstances by which these proportions may be partially 
affected ; . . . that the number of male births is relatively less predominant in cities than in agricultural 
districts ". 

34 John Hunter, op. cit., p. 323 : " she would not allow any dog to come near her . . . She was held, 
however, while a greyhound dog lined her ". 

35 cf. " Darwin's Second Notebook on Transmutation of Species ", Bull, Brit, Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Histori- 
cal Series, vol. 2, i960, p. no, footnote 4. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 165 

form. — ■ (Because by the process it separates those differences which are in harmony 
with all its previous changes, which mutilations are not), but why should it demand 
some further change? Man properly is hermaphrodite (hence monstrosities tend that 
way from frequency of this tendency all mammals must long have so existed with 
double union. [)] — At present I can only say the whole object being to acquire differ- 
ences, indifferently of what kind, either progressive improvement or deterioration] . . 
that object failing, generation fails. — How completely circumstances alone make 
changes or species !! The view of each man or mammalia being abortive herma- 
phrodite simplifies case much ; & originally each hermaphrodite being simple (are 
not coniferous trees generally dioecious oldest forms) I 



166 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FOURTH 

Pages excised from Fourth Notebook 
IV 

5 Those who have studied history of the world most closely & know the amount of 
change now in progress, will be the last to object to the theory on the score of small 
change — on the contrary islands separated with some animals &c. — If the change 
could be shown to be more rapid I should say then some link in our train of geological 
reasoning extremely faulty. 

The difficulty of multiplying effects & to conceive the results with that clearness of 
conviction, absolutely necessary as the basal foundation stone of further inductive 
reasoning is immense. 

It is curious that geology by giving proper ideas of these subjects should be absolutely 
necessary to arrive at right conclusion about species. 

Changes of level &c. are easily recorded, but change of species not as — without 

6 every animal preserved, the latter pages in the history are perfect, | we obtain a 
glimpse only of the changes which the government is subject to. — further back we 
obtain here & there in order a scattered page, we find sensible change in the insti- 
tutions & we suppose not only revolutions, but certain obliterations & first laws 
created, & yet with symmetry & regular laws that baffles idea of revolution. — 

My very theory requires each form to have lasted for its time : but we ought in 
same bed if very thick to find some change in upper & lower layers. Look at whole 
Glacial period — Good objection to my theory : a modern bed at present might be 
very thick & yet have same fossils, does not Lonsdale 1 know some case of change in 
entire series 
9 Study introduction to Cuviers 2 Regne Animal. 

No structure will last without it is adaptation to whole life of animal, & not if it 
be solely to womb as in monster, or solely to childhood, or solely to manhood. — it 
will decrease & be driven outwards in the grand crush of population. — 

Octob. io th . Saw two undoubtedly rabbits in poulterer shops, of same colour as a 
Hare, but paler & buffer — with long ears & longer hind legs ? ? ? — -so that I was 
almost doubtful which it was. — do hind legs increase in any rabbits | 
io One may strongly suspect that breeding in & in, produces bad effects solely, because 
of similarity, because in every country, where only pair has been introduced, & have 
freely bred, they have not lost power of producing. 

Williams Narrative of Miss. Enterprise 3 p. 497. Vampire bats abound in the 
Navigators & at Manguia, but are unknown eastward of the Navigators. Snakes 
occur there, but are unknown in Henry or Society isles. | 
11 Hope 4 says positively he has seen a Calosoma (very like American form) in Stones- 
field slate, & a Melolon ...[?] In marl from Lake Constance species of European 
genera =. — Hope has idea about generic character dominant predominant &c. 
having relation to geographical distribution. — Thus Hattica is such genus. — 
because found in all quarters : his ideas not clear. In Australia some approach to 

1 William Lonsdale. 

2 Georges Cuvier, Le regne animal, Paris 181 7. 

3 John Williams, Missionary enterprises in South, Sea Islands, London 1837. 

4 Frederick William Hope, personal communication. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 167 

Asiatic in part near Timor, & to European in Van Diemens land where there is close 
species of elater — Where this collection is particularly rich as in Lucanidae less 
difficulty in establishing good groups. — | 

12 ears varying so much. — kind of fur (do tips of ears take any colour?) — - length of 
tail varies & character of fur — I am sure a very good case might be made out of 
variation analogous to specific variations. — 

Kerrs 5 Collect of Voyages Vol. 8 p. 46 Capt. Davis in 1598 found cattle in Table 
Bay with Hump on their back & big-tailed sheep. 

do. Vol. 10. p. 373 & 374 Spaniards say no Tortoises in the place besides Galapagos 6 | 

13 do. 376. Isle Tres Marias off Mexico with small Hares & raccoons S. American 
form — off province of Guadalaxura 7 — 

October 11 th . — Uncle John 8 says Decandolle 9 distributed seeds of Dahlia all 
over Europe same year. — he sowed them for four generations before they broke. — 
showing effects of cultivation gradually adding up. & four more generations before 
they began to double. — 
At present time Uncle J. does not suppose one aboriginal variety for they are all 

14 made by fertilizing | one plant with another — Uncle John says he has no doubt 
bees fertilize enormous number of plants — it is scarcely possible to purchase seeds 
of any cabbage where a great many will not return to all sorts of varieties, which he 
attributes to crossing. — Cape Broccoli can hardly be reared without greatest care be 
taken to prevent fertilization from turnips & other stocks. Says if any variety of 
apple be sown, all | 

19 in the cats, the joints near the tip of the tail were generally crooked, as if they had 
been broken ". are born so in all Malay countries W. Earl. 10 Eastern Seas, p. 233. 

Octob. 12. Kotzebues 11 Second Voyage Vol. II, p. 344. account of insects of 
St Peter & St Paul in Lat 53 ° yet fauna like that 60 ° & 70 ° of Europe. — Many 
European insects, list given — some peculiar — 

do. p. 359. At Manilla a small Cercopithecus., & skins of Galiopithecus. — 
Malte Brun 12 Vol. XII p. 133 at Samar SE of Lucon, many monkeys, buffaloes 
&c &c — Malte Brun would be worth skimming over with regard to this archipelago | 

20 Octob. 13 th . — Kotzebues First Voyage 13 Vol. II p. 867. " The Fauna of the 
Sunda islands presents us, for the most part, with the same families and genera, 

5 Robert Kerr, A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels . . . London, 1811-1824 ; vol. 
8, p. 46 : " Their cattle are large, and have a great lump of flesh on the shoulder, like the back of a camel. 
Their sheep have prodigiously large tails, entirely composed of fat, weighing twelve or fourteen pounds, 
but are covered with hair instead of wool ". 

6 ibid., vol. 10, p. 373 : " The Spaniards say there are no others in these seas, except at the Galapagos, 
but they are common in Brazil ". 

7 ibid., vol. 10, p. 376 : " The Tres Marias, or Three Marias, off the Western coast of Guadalaxara, 
in the kingdom of Mexico . . . There are also many excellent hares, but much smaller than ours. We 
saw likewise abundance of guanas and some racoons, which barked and snarled at us like dog ". 

8 John Hensleigh Allen of Cresselly. 

9 Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. 

10 George Windsor Earl, The Eastern Seas ; or Voyages and Adventures in the Indian Archipelago in 
1832, 1833, and 1834, London, 1837 ; p. 233 : " Here, as in all Maya countries I noticed a peculiarity in 
the cats, which I never heard satisfactorily accounted for. The joints near the tip of the tail are generally 
crooked, as if they had been broken ". 

11 Otto von Kotzebue, New Voyage round the World, 1823-1826, London, 1830. 

12 Conrad Malte Brun, Annates des voyages, Paris, 1809-14. 

13 Otto von Kotzebue, Voyage into the South Sea and Beering's Straits 181 5-1 81 8, London 1821. 



168 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FOURTH 

that are natives of S. Asia, but many of the species are peculiar to them ". do. 
p. 368 " Several kinds of animals have spread from the end of Borneo to the adjacent 
island — In Soolos we find the elephant — in Magindaneo several kinds of the large 
monkeys. — Fewer mammalia have passed to Paragua & in Lu£on the most northern 
of the group the number is limited ["] | 

21 do. Vol. Ill p. 77 Kotzebues Second Voyage Many foreign plants have been 
introduced in Guahon (Mariannes), " for example the prickly Limonia trifoliata, 
which cannot now be checked ". — Marsden 14 p. 94 (1st Edit) of Sumatra has given 
account of Buffalo of the East which differs from that of S. Europe — 

p. 189 The giant kind of crocodile sometimes wanders from Pellew to Eap [Yap] — 
There is another great Lizard, Kalug, which is found at Pellew & Eap, but not at 
Feis (near island) | 

22 do. p. 190. The inhabitants of Summagi, a territory in the small isl d of Eap in 
the Carolines are remarkably short. — & Deformations are particularly common. — 
without arms, hands, thumbs, — one leg, hare lip &c. &c. In Vol II p 363 account 
of Flora of Pacific, given in my coral paper. 15 

Oct. 14th. Macleay 16 says that any character even colour is good (i.e. invariable) 
in some classes. — it is because every part is under change, now one part now an- 
other — I 

25 Octob. 19th. When reading lTnstitut 1838 p. 329. Milne Edwards 17 description 
of curious mechanism of respiration or rather ventilation peculiar to some orders 
of Crustacea, one is tempted to think that it must have been invented all at once. — 
but naturalists if they had series perfect, would expect this structure would become 
obscure & therefore it might then have arisen, & M. Edwards p. 330 distinctly states 
that the flipper is a mere simple modification of an organ present in whole class. | 

26 Case of Mexican greyhounds. — young being habituated instance such as Hunter, 18 
or some one mention of influence on parent affecting offspring. — & as adaptation. — 
however mysterious such is case, therefore chance & unfavourable conditions to 
parent may be become favourable to offspring : Australian dogs having mottled 
coloured puppies case of this. — tendency in manner of life to be mottled & hereditary 
tendency determines the puppies to be so. — | 

35 argument real of antiquity of reasonable cosmopolite man. lTnstitut 19 1838 
P- 338- Important account of cross of sheep & Moufflon of Corsica, sadly against 
Yarrell's law. — not so much against my modification of it — Goat & Moufflon will 
not breed — 

14 William Marsden, History of Sumatra, London, 1783. 

15 Darwin's paper on Coral Islands, written in 1835, has been published, with an introduction by D. R. 
Stoddart, by Pacific Science Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C., Atoll Research 
Bulletin No 88, 15 December 1962. 

16 William Sharp MacLeay, personal communication. 

17 Henri Milne-Edwards, L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 329 : "un systeme de palettes qui fonctionnent 
a la maniere des ventilateurs et operent le renouvellement de l'eau par appel, en rejetant sans cesse 
au dehors une portion du liquide contenu dans la cavit6 branchiale ". 

18 John Hunter, Observations on certain parts of the Animal Oeconomy with notes by Richard Owen, 
London, 1837. 

19 L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 338. Zoologie : Metis du Moufflon et du Mouton. — " M. Flourens 
donne lecture d'une note de M. Marcel de Serres sur un metis provenu de l'accouplement du Moufflon 
ct du Mouton ..." 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 169 

p. do — 20 Fish of Teneriffe. St. Helena & Ascension most species like & identical 
with S. America & many very close. See full paper A most grave source of doubt 
in distinguishing which parent impresses offspring most is whether mother has had 
any offspring before — now this is never stated. | 
36 Regarding the similarity of offspring to Parent same laws appear to hold good with 
regard to marriage of individuals & varieties of same species & to different species — 
sometimes like one parent & sometimes other & sometimes 1/2 way. Ed. New Phil. 
Transact 21 Rabies common to men dogs horses cows pigs & sheep — disease common 
for men and animals cowpox — case in Spain of pustulous disease following handling 
sheep — all case do. p. 354 The most vicious dog will not attacke an}/ animal 
except dog when absent j 

41 Vegetation & conchology. — shells of Africa ought most to resemble fossil ones of 
Europe. Consider probable form of land. — S. America, an island, connects with 
Asia between two polar lands. — ■ Africa not so equatorial. — 

The fact of no Mam : Placent : insectivore being in S. America & Australia reason 
why Marsupiata when fresh introduced live & multiplied specifically & individually. — | 

42 I see clearly from F.R. 22 it will be highly necessary to show that if species fall, 
genera must. Lesson 23 I remember says Mariana Deer very close to a Molucca 
species. — 

LTnstitut 1837, p. 253 on animals of Antilles. 24 (see Macleay 25 in Zoolog. Journal 
on those of Cuba. — It is important to understand well the relation of passage from 
N. to S. American forms. 

The climate of N. America must have been equable & far more so than any other 
part of the World. — Europe perhaps less so than either Americas. — | 
85 Decern. 21st LTnstitut 26 1838 p. 414 M. Eichwald has published Fauna of Caspian. 
— fishes fresh water kinds (yet living in the Salt ?) — very few animals of any kind — 
Fauna must be very curious — with respect to the non-development of Mollusca, 
which I have sometimes speculated might be owing to absolute quantity of vitality 
in the world : — the production of vitality, as argued by Miiller from propagation of 
infinite numbers of individuals from one of adverse. — | 

20 L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 338. G^ographie Zoologique : Poissons des lies Canaries. — " M. 
Valenciennes lit des considerations sur l'ichthyologie de l'Atlantique et en particulier sur celle des iles 
Canaries ..." 

21 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal vol. 24, 1838, p. 353 " Observations on Rabies or Madness 
in Dogs, Oxen, Horses, Pigs, and Sheep, by Dr. Wagner . . . 

22 Dr Sydney Smith suggests that Darwin intended to write " F.B. " meaning Sir John Richardson's 
Fauna Boreali-Americana . . ., London, 1829— 1837. 

23 Rene 1 Primevere Lesson, in Louis Isidore Duperrey, Voyage autour du monde . . . sur la corvette La 
Coquille. Zoologie, Paris, 1 826-1 830. 

24 P. Gervais, L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 253 : " Zoologie : Mammiferes . . . communique une note 
sur les animaux mammiferes des Antilles ". 

25 William Sharp MacLeay, " Notes on Capromys ", Zool. Journ. vol. 4, 1829, p. 269 ; cf. " Remarks 
on the Comparative anatomy of certain birds in Cuba ", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., 16, 1833, p. 1. 

26 LTnstitut, tome 6, 1838, p. 412 Chronique 

" — Un travail de M. Eichwald recemment publie sur la faune de la mer Caspienne a donne a ce savant 
l'occasion de combattre l'opinion que la mer Caspienne aurait ete primitivement unie a la mer Noire. 
II se fonde dans cette conclusion sur la difference qui resulte de la comparaison des faunes des deux mers. 
Le plus grand nombre des Poissons de la Caspienne sont des Poissons d'eau douce. Cette mer est de la 
plus grande pauvrete en animaux marins, surtout quand on la compare a la mer Noire. Et cependant, 
dit M. Eichwald 1 si les deux mers avaient ete autrefois en communication, on ne devrait trouver dans 
l'une aucune espece qui ne fut egalement dans l'autre ". 



i 7 o EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FOURTH 

86 Decemb. 25th Lyell says the elevated shells in Bayfields district are much more 
like those of Scandinavia than of the N. American species — Dr Beck says the shells 
in Scandinavia from height of 200 & 300 ft. are identically same as those of present 
seas. — now in this country we have better means of judging the slowness of physical 
changes, than in any other. & yet 200-300 ft. no elevation & no change & even no 
loss of species. | 

87 It must never be overlooked that the chronology of geology rests upon amount 
of physical change & only secondarily, by assumption well grounded, on time ; — 
therefore the mere loss of species, which may be the works of a few years as with 
the Lamantin of Steller 26A tells much less though it also the effect of change, than a 
slow gradation in form which must be effect of slow change & therefore precludes 
effects of catastrophes, which must serve to confound our chronology, consider all 
this. — Extinction & transmutation, two foundations, hitherto confounded, of 
geology. — I 

88 L'Institut 1838. p. 414 M. Guyon 27 thinks monsters more common in Africa than 
in Europe especially with Europeans settled there. 

L'Institut do. p. 419. long account of Hyaenodon, a fossil dog leading towards 
Hyaena. 28 — See Comte Rendu. — I suspect good case of fossil filling up blank. — 
not between existing series of species of dog & Hyaena. — but a common point, 
whence both may have descended. — | 

91 continent, in like manner as Madagascar does to otherside of Africa. — (Juan 
Fernandez to Chile ??) Falklands to southern portion. Annals of Nat. Hist. 29 
1838 — do p. 269 on fresh water fish peculiar to Ireland. 30 do. p. 283. on the dark 
ears of the wild Chillingham cattle, 31 with reference to Mr. Bell's 32 statement of the 
tame ones, — an instance of a trifling peculiarity not to be eradicated. — do. p. 
305. — Mr. Owen 33 says in abstract in his paper on the Dugong, " The generative 
organs being those which are most remotely related to the habits & food of an animal, 
I have always regarded as affording very clear indication of its true affinities. We 
are least likely in the modifications of these organs to mistake a merely adaptive to 
an essential character " — How little clear meaning has this to what it might have. — ■ | 

92 What is the difference between an essential character & an adaptive one. — are not 
the essential ones eminently adaptive. — Does it not mean lately adapted or trans- 

2flA Stellers Sea-cow. 

27 M. Guyon, L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 414 : Teratologic, " en Afrique les monstruosites sont plus 
communes qu'en Europe ". 

28 M. Laizer & M. Parieu, L'Institut, tome 6, 1838, p. 419 ; Paleontologie : Mammifere inconnu . . . 
" Description et determination d'une machoire appartenant a un Mammifere jusqu'a present inconnu . . . 
Hyaenodon ". 

2 » Edward Forbes, Annals of Natural History, vol. 2, 1838, p. 250 : " On the Land and Freshwater 
Mollusca of Algiers and Bougia ". 

30 William Thompson, Annals of Natural History, vol. 2, 1838, p. 269 : " On Fishes ; containing a 
notice of one Species new to the British, and of others to the Irish Fauna " (Salmo ferox, Lake Trout, 
in Lough Neagh, cf. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 81.) 

31 L. Hindmarsh, Annals of Natural History, vol. 2, 1838, p. 274, " On the Wild Cattle of Chillingham 
Park " ; on p. 283 : " in the colour of the ears there is a trifling difference, but this appears to be an 
occasional variety in the species ". 

32 Thomas Bell, History of British Quadrupeds, London, 1837. 

33 Richard Owen, Annals of Natural History, vol. 2, 1838, p. 305, reference to Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society, 27 March 1838, containing this statement. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 171 

formed & hence not indicative of true affinity. — Owen 34 says Dugong connected 
with Pachydermata. — p. 306. the Dugong cannot be united with true Cetacea or 
whales. 35 — but an aquatic Pachyderm & Walrus — aquatic seal — (Consult this 
passage when considering origin of Northern Cetacea). — do p. 318 M. Pictet 36 of 
writing of Goethe, alludes to difference between fossil & recent Bull : like fossil & 
recent shells of the new raised beaches. — who maintains that | 

103 Sr C Bell 37 has some account of wolf in Zoolog. Gardens which brought its puppies 
to be fondled. — and we see in the Australian dog an instance of a half reclaimed 
animal. — the dogs, which have been wild here, have done so in hot countries. One 
ought to be able to hybridise the camel. Camel does not vary like ass & horse in 
lesser degree, how different to dog! (Hybrids of Calceolaria.) Same way some plants 
vary more than others : Does the Power of easily making tolerably fertile hybrids 
bear relation to capability of Variation? my theory says so. | 

104 March 6th. Mr Bentham 38 says in Sandwich Isld. he believes there are many 
cases of genera peculiar to the group having species peculiar to the separate islands. 
In his work on the Labiatae some of these species are described. — capital case. — 
for Sandwich Isld s are very similar to Galapagos — study Flora, what general 
forms. — are the Labiatae nearest to American or Indian groups? Believe some 
Mediterranean, but chiefly mountainous — this is very important (Sicily exception) 
see if this can be generalized — isld s have peculiar | 

Rhododendron ferrugineum begins at 1600 metres precisely & stops at 2600 & yet 

115 know that plant can be cultivated with ease near London — what makes the line, 
as of trees in Beagle Channel — it is not elements! — We cannot believe in such a 
line, it is other plants. — a broad border of killed trees would form fringe — but 
there is a contest & a grain of sand turns the balance. — M. Ramond p. 19 do. 
(Hort. Transact. Vol I) 39 says lofty Alpine plant of Pyrenees agree with those of 
Norway, Lapland, & Greenland, but not | with those of Kamtchatka, Siberia, or 

116 even of polar regions of N. America. — if true curious on my view — because these 
points were last connected with those northern regions. 40 do. p. 21 says many 

34 Richard Owen, ibid., p. 307 : "I conclude, therefore, that the Dugong and its congeners must either 
form a group apart, or be joined as in the classification of M. de Blainville, with the Pachyderm ". 

35 Richard Owen, ibid., p. 306 : " Now we have seen . . . the junction of the Dugongs and Manatees 
with the true Whales cannot therefore be admitted in a distribution of animals according to their organiza- 
tion ". 

36 M. F. G. Pictet, " On the writings of Goethe relative to Natural History ", Annals of Natural History, 
vol. 2, 1839, pp. 313-322 ; on p. 321 : " his observations on the researches of Dr Jaeger upon the subject 
of fossil bulls found in the neighbourhood of Stuttgart. Goethe seeks to prove in this article, that the 
difference which exists between fossil and recent bulls may be looked upon as the result of the perfecting 
of the species during the centuries which separate the two periods ". 

37 Sir Charles Bell, Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression, London, 1806. 

38 George Bentham, Labiatarum genera et species, London, 1832—6. 

39 Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, 1820 (3rd ed.) Appendix IV, p. 15 " On the 
Vegetation of high Mountains, translated from a Paper of M. Ramond's in the Annates du Museum, 
vol. 4, p. 395." By Richard Anthony Salisbury . . ." On p. 19 ". . . Norway, Lapland, and Greenland, furnish 
plants analogous to those of the Swiss Alps and Pyrenees, but few, or possibly none of them, are seen in 
Siberia, Kamschatka, or even in the polar regions of America. ..." 

40 ibid p. 21 "... . grow wild in the same place, and follow the same route. The Anthericum Bicolorum 
of Algiers, traverses the same chain of mountains, and arrives in Anjou. The Scilla Umbellata and Crocus 
Mudiflorus, have migrated from the Pyrenees even into England. Yet not one of the above mentioned 
vegetables has been disseminated laterally, to meet those southern ones which have crossed the Swiss 
Alps. ..." 



172 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FOURTH 

plants skirt each side of the great N & S valleys, which penetrate Pyrenees in branch 
valleys — M. Ramond offers no explanation. 

119 Examine list of St Helena Plants & see whether those which grow in low ground 
are those, which are common & nearest being common to other parts of the world. — 

March 16 th Mr. Lonsdale showed me two specimens of an Inoceramus from the 
Gault of Folkestone, which is exactly intermediate between /. concentricus & I. 
sulcatus. — the beak of this one has concentric striae, all the lower part rayed longi- 

120 tudinally (give woodcut) like /. sulcatus. — Both species are | found at Folkestone. — 
it is unnamed this intermediate one. — Mr. Lonsdale evidently inclines to think it 
Hybrid !!! Ask Woodward 41 

Mr. Lonsdale says Trigonia costata & elongata though considerably different in 
proportional dimensions must be considered merely varieties & even Mr. Sowerby 
is coming to this conclusion, from specimens in grades, now L. says that T. costatus \ 

121 is in England found in the Inferior Oolite, & the T. elongata in the Upper formation 
Portland Stones &c. &c. — if so it is good case : — In Sowerby 42 Min. Conch, it is 
however, said they have been found together in coast of France. — L. doubts. — 
Lonsdale thinks Ammonites would afford instance of such facts. — Ask Phillips. 43 — | 

122 The more I think, the more convinced I am, that extinction plays greater part 
than transmutation. — Do species migrate & die out? — 

March 20 th . Phillips in Lecture in Royal Institution says shells become less in 
number (? species or individuals) the deeper one goes — surely is this true? — most 
strange. — In the place where any species is most common, we need not look for 
change, because its numbers show it is perfectly adapted ; if where few stray ones 
are that change may be anticipated, & thus fresh creation, the gardener separates 
a plant he wishes to vary — domesticated animals tend to vary. | 

123 Does not spermatic animalcule in Mosses render my view of the crossing of mosses 
& all others by action of wind difficult. — 

Cline on the breeding of animals. 44 p. 8. size of foetus in proportion to male parent, 
p. 8. his whole doctrine of the advantage of crossing consists in the idea of the male 
being smaller, & the female larger than the average size : (surely this is very limited 
view though perhaps a true element) give examples : pigs with small Chinese boar 
&c. &c. &c. Offspring take more after father than mother ; illustrated by the 
crossing of hornless sheep with horned. — compare this with what highland shepherd 
said. — I 

124 p. 12. Attempts to improve the native animals of any country must be made with 
great caution ; owing to its adaptation to the surrounding circumstances. According 
to my theory no land animal with fluid seeds can be true hermaphrodite. — 

Man probably assumes the hairy character of his forefathers only when advanced 
in age, & therefore the children do not (& in hairless kittens we see same fact) go 



41 Samuel Pickworth Woodward (1 821-1865) was J 8 years old in 1839 which shows that this pencil 
note was added at a date later than that at which the Notebook was written. 

42 James Sowerby, Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, London, 1812-46. 

43 John Phillips, author of A Treatise on Geology. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, London 1837. 

44 Henry Cline, Observations on the Breeding and Form of Domestic Animals, London, 1829. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 173 

125 back, & this is argument against Blyth's 45 | doctrine of young birds retrogressing — 

Uncovering the canine teeth or sneering, has no more relation to our present 
wants or structure, than the muscles of the ears to our hearing powers. 

E. 46 frowns prodigiously when drinking very cold water, frowns connected with 
pain as well as intense thought. — 

No one but a practised geologist can really comprehend how old the world is, as 
the measurements refer not to revolutions of the sun & our lives, but to period 
necessary to form heaps of pebbles &c. &c. : the succession of organisms tells nothing 
about length of time, only order of succession. | 

126 Splendid Pamphlet (published in Philosoph. Journal April I st 1839) by Sedgwick 
& Murchison 47 ; which is a beautiful instance of forms, intercalated between two great 
distinct formations. — particulars are given p. 246-248 & 258. 

A beautiful case showing the gradation from one grand system to another : in 
each system, the changes from limestone to san[d] stone &c. show some great change 
who can say how many centuries elapsed between each of these gaps, far more prob- 
ably than than during the deposition of the beds. — The argument must | 

129 April 3 d . — Henslow 48 tells me following facts : believes that only red Lychnis 
grows in Wales & certainly only white in Cambridge, in some counties sometimes 
one & sometimes other. — there is some difference of habit between these varieties, 
so that they have been thought to be different species. Lychnis dioica, generally 
dioecious yet parts only very slightly abortive & bed of female flowers will sometimes 
produce a few seeds. — Ruscus aculeatus a dioecious plant, in which the male plant 

130 sometimes | bears female flowers, the organ, are most clearly abortive, so that they 
become so by suppression of one organ, here language forces on us the change, which 
seems to have taken place. — Almost all Dioecious & monoecious plants have rudi- 
mentary abortive organs, even more so Polygamia : Monoecia & Dioecia, preeminently 
artificial, so that even some species only in genera have this structure. — 

Some willow trees have been observed to change their sex. — this effect from 
age, what Mr. Knight 49 | 
139 then dropped it & was found alive. Stanleys Familiar History of Birds 50 — several 
cases on record of stoats being carried (p. 121) & dropped having wounded the bird, 
p. 124 — Mr. Willoughby 51 found a dead lamb & hare by the side of Eagles nest, 
which shows power of carrying great weight p. 125. is said that Eagles bring rabbits 

45 Edward Blyth, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. 9, 1836, p. 402 : " Every modification 
of every successive type is thus rudimentally different from the most approximate modifications of every 
other equivalent type, or superior type, to which it does not appertain ; and this is the same conclusion 
to which I have been irresistibly led from consideration of various phenomena connected with the change 
in plumage which takes place in birds. As every species is perfectly and essentially different from every 
other species, so, except in a retrograde direction, are the successive typical and subtypical plans upon 
which they are severally organised ". 

46 Erasmus Alvey Darwin, Darwin's elder brother. 

47 Adam Sedgwick & Roderick Murchison, " Classification of the Older Stratified Rocks of Devonshire 
and Cornwall ", Philosoph. Mag. vol. 14, 1839, pp. 241-260. 

48 John Stevens Henslow. 

49 Thomas Andrew Knight. 

50 Edward Stanley, Familiar History of Birds, London 1838. 

51 Francis Willughby. In the 1854 edition of Edward Stanley's Familiar History of Birds "... Mr. 
Willoughby. an excellent authority, mentions a nest which he saw in the woodlands, near the river Der- 
went, in the Peak of Derbyshire, some 150 years ago. . . . and by them a lamb and a hare, and three 
heath-poults. ..." 



174 



EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FOURTH 



& hares to the young ones to exercise them in killing them. " Sometimes it seems 
hares, rabbits, rats & not being sufficiently weakened by wounds get off from the 
young ones while they were amusing themselves with them and one day a rabbit 
140 escaped into a hole, where j the old Eagle could not find it. — - The parent bird another 
day brought to her young ones the cub of a fox which after it had fought well & 
desperately bitten the young ones would in all probability have escaped " — if it 
had not been shot by a shepherd who was watching the scene. — In Shiart Isl d it is 
said, that an Eagle always procured its prey from another island. — 

p. 175. 28 short eared owls were counted in a field where there was great swarm 
of mice. — | 

165 May 29 th . — Henslow says that he has not the slightest doubt that Festuca viva- 
para is the same species with F. ovina & was rendered vivaparous by growing in 
height. — yet he has seen it propagated in a garden, which is case precisely analogous 
to the Canada onion mentioned in Hort. Transact. Aisa caespitosa become viva- 
parous on mountain & yet can be raised in gardens. — Poa alpina, though generally 
vivaparous sometimes seeds. There are endless curious facts about every part of 
plant producing buds, so that Turpin 52 says each cell of plant is individual. — Most 
plants which propagate rapidly by buds, layers &c. &c. do not seed freely. — The 
periwinkle seldom produces seeds, because it is thought to require insects to impreg- 
nate it. — it is allied to Asclepia, where this is always the case according to Brown. — | 

166 Voyage of Adventure & Beagle. 53 Vol. I. p. 306 Shells as well as plants of Juan 
Fernandez differ from American coast. Vol. II p. 251 about the drifting of 
animals on ice — p. 643 — very curious table of all the castes from Stephenson at 
Lima. 

The same numerical relation (both in species and subgenera) between the Crag 
& Touraine beds, the one with neighbouring & Arctic sea, & the other with neighbour- 
ing & Senegal in sea — is remarkable. — Again the resemblance between the Superga 

167 & Paris, numerically | the same with recent & yet almost wholly different, is same, 
as if Isthmus of Panama. — Those two cases highly improbable — yet I can see 
no other way of accounting for them. — Think over this — The Superga beds have 
many shells in common with Touraine & are not far distant, which as L. says is 
strong argument for their contemporariness. — How is this with the Eocene beds. — 
see Lyells 54 tables — 

Bennetts Wanderings 55 Vol. II p. 155. By inference I imagine that there are 
Baboons in St. Thomas on W. coast of Africa. | 

168 Owen 56 Linn. Soc. April 2 d 1839. The Lepidosiren. — Amblyrhyncus & Toxodon, 
all equally aberrant — the two former connecting classes like Toxodon in orders. — 
Fish & reptiles in former case — Reptiles & Birds & Mamm. in Amblyrhynchus — is 
not this right? — 

52 Pierre- J ean-Francois Turpin, Organographie microscopique des vegetaux. Sur Vorigine du tissu 
cellulaire, Paris, 1829. 

53 Robert FitzRoy, Narrative of Voyages of H. M.S. Adventure and Beagle, London, 1839. 

54 Sir Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. 3, London, 1833, Table II, pp. 389-393. 

55 George Bennett, Wanderings in New South Wales, London, 1834. 

56 Richard Owen, " Description of the Lepidosiren annectens ", Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 18. 
1841, p. 327 ; read 2 April 1839. 



NOTEBOOK ON TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 175 

June 18 th . Eyton 57 tells me that Yarrell 58 knows of a Gull which has laid in 
domestication eggs of two shapes & colour — Eyton has observed same thing in 

169 Brent Goose | Eyton says some of the pidgeons in common Dovecot are very like a 
Himalaya species — leuconotes. — 

Magazine of Nat. History 1839 p. 106. Waterhouse 59 refers to fossil remains of 
the Hamster. — is not this Siberian animal? — 

Eyton 60 says that the young of two hatches all alike between the male Chinese & 
female common goose took after the common goose thus contradicting (probably) 
Yarrells 61 law & Walkers 62 of the male giving form — they interbred & the young 
kept constant & all alike | 

170 Waterhouse says some of the Galapagos Heteromera ...[?] must come very near to 
Patagonian species. — 

p. 18 of Temmincks 63 Preliminary discourse to Fauna of Japan. — that the animals 
of islands N. of Timor are allied to the type of genera in isles de Sonda as well by those 
which are identical, as those which are different — now this is same as Galapagos 
facts &c. &c. — & it shows the cause which gives same species to different isl d . 
is the same as that which gives genera. — now in case of large | 

173 Mr. Greenough 64 on his map of the world has written Mastodon found at Timor — 
thinks he has seen specimen in Paris Museum. — 

Athenaeum 1839 P- 45 1 - Sheep Merinos from Cape of Good Hope have different 
constitution from those of Europe 65 — for they stand India better than the latter. — 

Forrest Voyage 66 p. 323. Sooloo imported elephant, wild hogs — spotted deer, 
no loories, but cocatores & small green parrots. | 

174 June 26 th — Yarrell : — Black Swan in domestication & nature strictly mono- 
gamous — geese polygamous (?when wild) but even some birds are so when wild — 
wild ducks monogamous ; tame ones highly polygamous — change of instinct by 
domestication. — 

" Notices of the Indian Archipelago " Published at Singapore in 1837. by Mr. 
J. H. Moore. — p. 1 Elephant Rhinoceros Leopard (but not Royal Tiger) &c. are 
found but only in one part the northern peninsula of Borneo. — Ox & hog natives 
of Borneo. | 

57 Thomas Campbell Eyton. 

58 William Yarrell. 

59 George Robert Waterhouse, " Observations on the Podentia ", Magazine of Natural History, vol. 3, 
1839, p. 106. 

6° Thomas Campbell Eyton, " Some remarks upon the Theory of Hybridity ", Magazine of Natural 
History, vol. 1, 1837, p. 357. 

61 See " Darwin's Fourth Notebook on Transmutation of Species ", Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist)., 
Historical Series, vol. 2, i960, p. 173, footnote 1. 

62 Alexander Walker, Intermarriage, London, 1838. 

63 Coenraad Jacob Temminck, " Apercu general . . . sur les Mammiferes qui habitent le Japon . . .", 
in P. F. von Siebold, Fauna Japonica, Leiden, 1833. 

64 George Bellas Greenough. 

65 Athenaeum, 1839, p. 451 : " Asiatic Society . . . Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Bombay, 
in reply to a request for information respecting the breeds of cattle used in the Presidency. . . . Sheep are 
rare . . . Experiments are now making to improve the breed. . . . The merino from the Cape is found to 
answer much better than that brought from England ". 

66 Thomas Forrest, A Voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balmabangan, London 1779 ; 
p. 323 : "At Sooloo are none of those beautiful birds called Loories ; but there is an abundance of 
diminutive cocatores, and small green parrots . . . Here are wild elephants, the offspring, doubtless, of 
those sent in former days from the continent of India, as presents to the kings of Sooloo . . . Sooloo has 
spotted deer ". 



176 EXCISED PAGES FROM DARWIN'S FOURTH NOTEBOOK 

175 Notices of Indian Arch. Singapore 1837 by J.H. ? J. H. Moore do p. 189, 190. 
No full sized horse is found East of y Bussamporter & S. of Tropic — after quitting 
Bengal the fact is noticed in Cassay Ava Pegue seldom equal 13 hands — those of 
Lao & Siam inferior to those of Pegu — in Sumatra they breed both small — Java 
pony occasionally reaches 13 hands. — Philippine Pony somewhat resembles that 
of Celebes is somewhat larger than the Sambawa Java & Sumatra breeds. (Here it 
appears there are shades of difference in all the isl d . like in wild animals). — There are 
prevailing colours in the different islands. — The horse is only found wild in the 
plains of Celebes, (but language shows that probably not original there) — shows them 
isl d not fit for horse. Forrest 67 (p. 270) says many wild horses, bullocks, & deer 

176 South part of Mindanao. — | do. Appendix p. 43, 45. the Breed of elephants in little 
isl d of Sooloo. — said to have been imported : shows they will propagate get dimen- 
sions. — do. App. p. 73 State of Muar in Malacca — speaks of Rhinoceros as well as 
Tapir. — 

Journal of Asiatic Soc. Vol. V. p. 565 in a paper by Lieut. Newbold. 68 — A Malayan 
albino described " To this day the tomb of his grandfather, who was also an albino 
is held sacred by the credulous natives, & vow made at it. Both his parents were 
of the usual colour. His sister is an albino like himself said not to be common " — 
probably, I should think grandfather first of race & if so, fact for my theory | 

181 that throughout the Moluccas Archipelago they are only to be found on the isl d 
of Batchian near S.E. end of Gilolo. 

Forrest Voyage 69 p. 39 70 — deer but no wild animals in Gilolo. — p. 134 71 Birds 
of Paradise were first produced from Gilolo. — p. 253 72 In isl d of Bunwoot (18 
miles in circum) there are hogs and monkey near shore of Magindano | 

182 Vol. do p. 634 73 alludes to the fact stated by M. Tournal that skulls found near 
Vienna approximate to Nigro forms ; those from Rhine to the Caribs. — Vol. II 
p. 650 74 Long attested account of fall of fish in India. — Windsor Earl. Eastern 
Seas p. 229 75 . Believes the Tapir found in Borneo p. 233 76 . There as well as all Malay 
countries the cats are born with the joint near the tip crooked. — is this form | 

67 Thomas Forrest, ibid., p. 270 : " Here are many wild horses, bullocks and deer ". 

68 J. T. Newbold, " Sketch of the State of Muar ", Journ. Asiatic Soc, vol. 5, 1836, pp. 561-7. 

69 Thomas Forrest. " A Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas, from Balamangan . . . London, 
1779. 

70 ibid on p. 39 " . . . The island Gilolo abounds with bullocks and buffalos, goats and deer, also wild 
hogs, there are but few sheep, and no wild beasts. ..." 

71 ibid on p. 134 " . . . the Portuguese first found these birds on the island of Gilolo, the Papua Islands, 
and on New Guinea ; and where they are known by the name of passaros da sol, i.e. birds of the sun ..." 

72 ibid on p. 253 . . . Saw a number of wild hogs ..." 

73 Journal of the Asiatic Society vol. 2, Calcutta 1833. " Occurrence of the Bones of Man in the Fossil 
State " by J[ames] P[rinsep] p. 634 " . . . M. Tournal and other French naturalists, further suppose that 
several races of men have successively had possession of our continents. The form of the skulls found 
at Vienna is stated to approach to the African or Negro type. Those discovered in the fluviatile marls 
of the valley of the Rhine and Danube exhibit a close resemblance to the heads of the Karibs of those of 
the ancient inhabitants of Peru and Chili. ..." 

74 ibid p. 650 Miscellaneous : "5. — ■ Fall of Fish from the Sky ". 

75 George Windsor Earl. " The Eastern Seas, or Voyages and Adventures in the Indian Archipelago, 
in 1832-33-34 ..." London, 1837. On p. 229 "... and an animal, which, from the description given, 
must have been a tapir. ..." 

76 ibid. p. 233 "... Here, as in all Malay countries, I noticed a peculiarity in the cats, which I never 
heard satisfactorily accounted for. The joints near the tip of the tail are generally crooked, as if they 
had been broken. I was at first inclined to doubt that they were born thus, but was afterwards convinced 
that such was the case. ..." 




PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 
BY ADLARD AND SON LIMITED 
BARTHOLOMEW PRESS, DORKING 



-S. L^M. H 



CHARLES DARWIN ON THE ROU 
OF MALE HUMBLE BEES 




R. B. FREEMAN 



BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 
HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 6 

LONDON : 1968 



CHARLES DARWIN ON THE ROUTES OF 
MALE HUMBLE BEES 




BY 

R. B. FREEMAN , jj( 



Pp. 177-189 ; 1 Text-figure 



BULLETIN OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

HISTORICAL SERIES Vol. 3 No. 6 

LONDON : 1968 



THE BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

(NATURAL HISTORY), instituted in 1949, is 
issued in five series corresponding to the Departments 
of the Museum, and an Historical series. 

Parts will appear at irregular intervals as they become 
ready. Volumes will contain about three or four 
hundred pages, and will not necessarily be completed 
within one calendar year. 

In 1965 a separate supplementary series of longer 
Papers was instituted, numbered serially for each 
Department. 

This paper is Vol. 3, No. 6 of the Historical 
series. The abbreviated titles of periodicals cited follow 
those of the World List of Scientific Periodicals. 



World List abbreviation: 
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Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) 1968 



TRUSTEES OF 
THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 

Issued 3 May, 1968 Price Six Shillings 



CHARLES DARWIN ON THE ROUTES OF 
MALE HUMBLE BEES 

By R. B. FREEMAN 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 

Precis 

Field Notes 

Notes 

References 

Acknowledgments 



179 
181 

183 
188 
189 



1. INTRODUCTION 

Between the years 1854 an d x 86i Charles Darwin, with the help of five or six of 
his children, made a number of observations on the flight routes of male humble 
bees. These he recorded at the time in a series of field notes, but he never wrote 
them up for publication in England. In May 1872, however, he wrote a precis of 
them. It is these notes and a version of the precis which are printed below. 

A German translation of this precis was published in 1886 by Ernst Krause in 
the second volume of his edition of some of Darwin's shorter works entitled Gesam- 
melte kleinere Schriften, 1884-86. Krause describes, in a footnote, here translated 
from the German, how he came by the manuscript: " The present essay by Darwin 
was amongst the papers of Professor Hermann Miiller of Lippstadt, the authority 
on the relationships between flowers and insects, who died on 25 August, 1883. 
It was sent to him in May, 1872. I have mentioned this in my biography of Miiller 
where further details may be found. So far as I know it has never been published, 
but the observations that it contains are far too valuable to be forgotten. I owe 
this information to the son of my late friend, Dr. Hermann Miiller, who is a secondary 
school master in Liegnitz ". 

Darwin's original must have been written in English, because he had little German, 
and it must have been accompanied by a sketch of the relevant parts of his grounds 
at Down House, because a plan with German captions accompanies the translation. 
I have not been able to trace the whereabouts of the original manuscripts, either 
in English or in German. This precis was translated from the German into English 
and published, with the German plan, in my Works of Charles Darwin, 1965. The 
version published here is somewhat modified in the light of the words actually used 
by Darwin in his notes, and it also contains a few corrections. 

The existence of Darwin's original field notes was brought to my attention by 
Mr. P. J. Gautrey of the Department of Western Manuscripts, University Library, 
Cambridge. They are written in ink on nineteen leaves of blue-tinted paper and 
on one, dated August 13th, 1861, of a much darker blue. The outside wrapper is 
of the same blue-tinted paper and bears on the front " Humble Bees / Cupboard 
IX / C3, 10 [10 is deleted] / For Letters"; and on the back " (Humble Bees) ". 
There is a rough pencil sketch of the grounds on the inside of this wrapper. They 

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ROUTES OF MALE HUMBLE BEES 181 

are amongst a collection of Darwin manuscripts which were deposited in the Library 
by Sir Robin Darwin in 1963. 

It is clear that they were set down shortly after the times of each original set of 
observations. There are no indications that they were altered or added to later, 
except for the addition of the general title on the outside cover, and possibly the 
addition of years, in pencil, at the top of some leaves. The notes are written in a 
condensed manner with many contractions and inconsistencies of usage. In the 
transcript given below I have expanded the contractions and straightened the in- 
consistencies. For example, Darwin wrote buz or buzz, sand-walk, sandwalk or 
swalk; I have used buzz and sand- walk throughout. I have not attempted to 
expand the condensations. In most places the sense is clear, and where it is not, 
a hypothetical expansion would be no aid to comprehension. In general, the notes 
are legible, but I am doubtful of the readings of a few words; these I have placed 
in brackets [ ] which Darwin uses only once. A line by line transcript without 
expansions has been deposited with the manuscript at Cambridge. 

Neither of the two British books devoted to the humble bees, those of Sladen 
(1912) and of Free& Butler (1959), mentions Darwin's work, although the latter 
devotes several pages to the flight paths, as they are now called, of the males. A 
considerable amount of research on this subject has been undertaken in recent years 
which has confirmed and extended Darwin's observations, but his own work is not 
usually referred to, nor is his name mentioned. The best paper is that of Arthur 
Frank (1941) in which he describes closely similar flight paths for males of Bombus 
hypnorum and Bombus terrestris, but he is apparently unaware that accurate obser- 
vations on the subject had been made nearly ninety years earlier. Haas (1952) 
has explained one of Darwin's difficulties by showing that the males mark their 
buzzing places with secretions from the mandibular glands, which attract others to 
the spot. Darwin's comment, in the field notes, about the dog and the corner 
stones shows that he had considered such an idea, but he does not mention it in the 
precis. The only paper that I have seen which refers to Darwin's work is one by 
Kriiger (195 1) which gives an excellent summary of his findings as they are given 
in the precis. 

2. PRECIS 

On September 8th, 1854, one of my sons 1 saw some humble bees enter a hole 
at the base of a tall ash tree. I looked into this hole hoping to find the entrance 
to a nest, but was unable to see one. Whilst I was examining the hole, another 
humble bee entered it, and, after flying off, returned almost immediately and, 
flying upwards for about a yard, flew away through a crutch between two large 
branches of the ash. 

I now removed all the grass and other plants which were growing around the hole, 
but still could not find any entrance. After a minute or two, another humble bee 
appeared. It buzzed over the area that I had cleared and then flew up and passed, 
like the previous one, through the same crutch. I watched many others behaving 
in the same way, all coming from the same direction and arriving at intervals of a 
few minutes. The only exception was that some flew round the stem of the large 



182 ROUTES OF MALE HUMBLE BEES 

ash instead of through the crutch. I was later able to confirm that all these bees 
were males of Bombus hortorum. I made similar observations on many other 
occasions, and was able to follow the bees from the ash to a bare spot at the side of 
a ditch where they buzzed again, and then for several yards further to an ivy leaf 
where the procedure was repeated. I am going to call these spots where they 
stopped for a few seconds " buzzing places ". From the ivy leaf they went into a 
dry ditch which was covered over by a thick hedge and flew slowly along the ground 
between the dense branches of thorn. I could only follow them along this ditch by 
making several of my children 1 crawl in, and lie on their tummies, but in this way 
I was able to track the bees for about twenty-five yards. They always came out 
of the ditch by the same opening, but from here there were three routes leading 
in different directions which I have indicated on the plan by dotted lines. I have 
marked them as far as I was able to follow the bees. There were several buzzing 
places on each of these routes, always a few yards apart. One of these was very 
odd because the bees had to fly down several feet to a fallen leaf at the bottom of 
a very thick hedge, and then fly back again by the way that they had come. 

I then followed their route for about a hundred and fifty yards until they came to 
a tall ash, and all along this line they buzzed at various fixed spots. At the far 
end, near a pollard oak, the track divided into two as shown in the plan. On some 
days all the bees flew in the direction I have described, but on others some arrived 
from the opposite direction. From observations made on favourable days, I think 
that the majority of individuals must fly in a wide circle. They stop every now 
and then to suck at flowers. I confirmed that whilst in flight they move at about 
ten miles an hour, but they lose a considerable amount of time at the buzzing places. 
The routes remain the same for a considerable time, and the buzzing places are 
fixed within an inch. I was able to prove this by stationing five or six of my children 
each close to a buzzing place, and telling the one farthest away to shout out " here 
is a bee " as soon as one was buzzing around. The others followed this up, so that 
the same cry of " here is a bee " was passed on from child to child without interrup- 
tion until the bees reached the buzzing place where I myself was standing. 

After a few days the routes were slightly changed. The bees first buzzed at the 
base of a tall slender thorn in a hedge opposite the tall ash; they then flew slowly 
upwards close to the trunk of the thorn, and, ascending to a considerable height, 
crossed over a big branch of the ash where they buzzed, and were lost to view as 
they flew high over it. I saw scores of bees flying upwards by this particular thorn, 
but never saw one come down again. I kept up these observations for several 
years from the middle of July until the end of September. The best time for obser- 
vation is the middle of a warm day. 

Now I must describe the strangest part of the whole business. For several 
successive years male bees followed almost the same routes, and several of the 
buzzing places were exactly the same, for instance in the hole at the foot of the tall 
ash; furthermore the bees always flew away through the same crutch. They also 
travelled along the same dry ditches and flew in or out through the same small 
opening at the end of the hedge, although there were many similar openings at this 
spot which could have served their purpose just as well. 



ROUTES OF MALE HUMBLE BEES T83 

In the first year I saw dozens of bees coming through this particular opening 
and flying along the bottom of the ditch to the tall ash. But in the second year 
the bees visited the thorn mentioned above and flew upwards from there, and in 
the third they visited a different thorn nearby. At first I was astonished by these 
facts, and could not understand how bees born in different years could apparently 
learn exactly the same habits. But they seem to prefer to fly along hedges and 
paths, and they love to buzz around the feet of trees, so that I assume that the 
same routes and the same buzzing places have some kind of attraction for this 
species; but I am unable to understand in what this attraction consists. At many 
of their buzzing places there is nothing particular of note. When one of them has 
been frequently visited, it is possible to change its appearance completely without 
interrupting the visits. For instance I pulled up all the grass and plants from the 
one at the foot of the ash and sprinkled white flour on the spot, without this making 
any change in the visits. It is just as difficult to understand how individual males 
from the same nests in the same area follow the same routes and buzz in the same 
places in one particular year as it is to understand how the bees follow the same 
routes and choose the same buzzing places year after year; for I believe that they 
emerge one after another, and I have never seen two travelling together. I have 
also been unable to understand the purpose of this habit of always flying along the 
same routes and buzzing at the same places, thereby losing a great deal of time. 
I have kept a look out for queens on these flight paths, but have never seen one. 

The males of Bombus pratorum also have buzzing places and behave in many 
respects like those of Bombus hortorum, but their habits and routes are somewhat 
different. On a visit to Devonshire I was able to confirm that males of Bombus 
lucorum visit buzzing places in the same way. 

Mr. F. Smith 8 of the British Museum knew nothing of this habit, but he referred 
me to a short note by Colonel Newman in the Transactions of the Entomological 
Society of London (New Series, Volume 1, part 6, 1851, p. 67). I have always re- 
gretted that I did not mark the bees by attaching bits of cotton wool or eiderdown 
to them with rubber, because this would have made it much easier to follow their 
paths. 

3. FIELD NOTES 

Sept. 8th — 13th 1854. George 1 observed numerous humble-bees (I think all 
same species) go and buzz at spot at foot of ash. I cleared away all leaves and 
rubbish, feeling sure there was a nest — but none — this clearing made no difference. 
Then observed that bees mostly went through great fork of ash, or round bole, 
and buzzed at a spot on bole; then flew along side hedge and ditch and buzzed at 
(3/ bare ground, then along ditch to ivy leaves 4/, then along deepish dry ditch, 
lined by ivy and full of thorns (so go by only slowly) and out by round hole in hedge 
at end by (5/spanish chesnut 2 . I think sometimes though rarely went straight 
along outside ditch. — One day all travelled in this course, other days a good many 
came travelling in back direction, but I think never so many. — Hoop-net which 
placed on (3/ buzz place, did not prevent bees coming and so caught. So not guided 
by vision — Prudent bee flew away but afterwards returned. — 



1 84 ROUTES OF MALE HUMBLE BEES 

At buzz 5, there seems branching off. Some go obliquely across field towards 
flower garden: others to great ash, 5(a) but very many of these first went up hedge 
to south (probably to buzz 6.) and then returned in a A- From ash 5a I think they 
go to great oak — but most from hole in hedge by Spanish chesnut (5/ do not buzz 
there but go [Pabout] south along hedge, to dead leaf in hedge (6/, this buzzing place 
singular as it lies rather in rubbish of hedge and bees have to fly in and out a good 
way out of course. From 6. they go a little along hedge and then over it to 6(a) 
or still further to between two ash branches (7 into the shaw. Here those that have 
gone over by 6a join same route. I have seen several fly from 6 to 5. — Here the 
bees come [Pinto] generally fly to near ground. Some buzz about and then go back 
out of shaw and apparently on southward, but others (I saw 3) go through thickest 
part of shaw obliquely into the sand-walk by seat on old fir. — These buzzing places 
must cause extreme delay. Do not come in afternoon 4-5. I have observed only 
i2-i|. Come at about 1 per minute to buzz (1. 

Sept. 14 Stormy. I2| oclock. Think bees flying about, but not one watched for 
\ hour on to track. At last they came quite quick in reverse course from buzz 2 
to a new buzz (-1 Frank 1 ), deep in ditch, (just as if going into a hole) then down 
almost straight for 20 yards sand-walk; but Etty 1 says that some went towards 
kitchen garden. Others came from — 1 to 2 and thence towards 2, 3, etc. 

Sept. 15th 1854. Have quite deserted buzz 1. Now go back and forward from 
— 1 Franky 1 buzz — to 2, and thence direct without calling at Spanish chesnut, (5) 
thence some to ash and some round corner to 6 etc. — . From — 1 a few went to 
sand-walk, but most along hedge, calling at buzzing places every few yards to big 
beech, thence with many calls to pollard oak, thence over kitchen garden wall into 
Sales 3 field. — Buzz 2. being quite white with flower 4 made no difference in the calls 
when dusted at 2 always went direct to 5 then back to all calling places to the 
kitchen garden. — at 3I none. 

Sept. 17th Things go as usual at — 1 Frank 1 buzz going in 3 ways thence, but 
some went through hedge. Observed there a different species buzzed all along 
straight hedge of sand- walk, at shorter intervals and never on ground, and very 
uncertainly at each buzzing place. But certainly they have numerous buzzing 
stages. — 

Sept. 25th Much cold weather but saw some bees go to buzzing places at pollard 
oak by kitchen garden.— The other humbles by straight sand-walk quite active. — 

Sept. 29th Very fine day. Several bees out, all visited Backy's 1 buzzing place, 
then went up either side of the thorn bush, then crossed over head to great limb of 
ash, and so up the limb, half up tree to where lost to view. 

Oct. 2nd. Saw bees going up thorn and crossing over with greatest precision to 
one spot of great limb. — never have seen one come in reversed direction, but all 
from kitchen garden along walk. 

Footnote: v. Trans. Entomolog. Soc. (New S.) Vol. 1 Part 6th. p. 87. 1851. 5 

July 23rd, 1855. George 1 and Franky 1 observed yesterday and 2 or 3 days ago 
several humble bees at buzzing places. — This day I saw them going to identical 
spot under crutch, where they were first seen last year. — Some now go round and 
towards Spanish chesnut tree. Others go along walk, buzzing every now and then : 



ROUTES OF MALE HUMBLE BEES 185 

they buzz in hole on south side of great beech, instead of on north side, and at 
almost identical spot, if not very identical spot, on old oak pollard. — Bees went 
both ways. Willy 1 is almost sure that one bee stopped at flower and then went 
on course. — Several of the bees seemed only slightly to pause over the beech buzzing 
places; and some seemed to have difficulty in finding their buzzing places. 

July 24th. After rainy morning watching at oak pollard 3 first bees came from 
west. — Ascertained some stop to visit flowers on road. — 3 bees at intervals came 
from ash pollard to oak pollard, and buzzed in rather different way from others, 
which go on visiting some leaves and flying about and then turned and went back, 
visiting the buzzing places on walk-side and going back to big beech. Surely it 
is too early and too many for all these bees to be mere promenaders.— 
4' 50" Bees yet visiting pollard oak. They do suck flowers on road. — 

July 25th at 10.30 am. Bees at oak pollard. Often suck flowers on road. Seems 
almost general rule. At oak pollard at least 2 roads diverge. — I saw 2 bees enter 
hole by Spanish chesnut (where hurdle was put), and fly along ditch; I think do 
not come out on other side of hedge. — It is impossible the bees could have hit 
accidentally 2 years successively on so obscure a hole: describe how long we were 
before we could find out this hole. 

July 28th. Saw 5 bees enter hole by Spanish chesnut; one or two entered 18 
[Pinches, word omitted] above hole. Also saw them at crutch. — 

July 29th uf am. Watched hole by Spanish chesnut and saw during i| hours 
from 40-50 bees enter, and not one come out of hole. The greater number went 
(as by plan) from field ash to foot of little ash and then through hole to base up 
little oak, then up oak and then east of little ash (making circle and then by a very 
long flight to shaw ash 1 & 2. — I saw some crawl through hedge by little ash, so as 
to cut off circle and yet come back and go through proper route. Some few of them 
instead of going as described turned to west and flew apparently towards crutch 
ash. — 

Again some thought by Willy 1 to be larger and more buzzing bees, came along 
ditch from south to foot of ditch oak and then turned to west and apparently flew