Volume 1

More letters of Charles Darwin : a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters / edited by Francis Darwin ... and A.C. Seward.

  • Charles Darwin
Date:
1903
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: More letters of Charles Darwin : a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters / edited by Francis Darwin ... and A.C. Seward. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Letter 4 a large surface of the osseous polygonal plates, which “ late observations ” (what are they ?) show belong to the Mega¬ therium. Immediately I saw this I thought they must belong to an enormous armadillo, living species of which genus are so abundant here. 3rd, The lower jaw of some large animal which, from the molar teeth, I should think belonged to the Edentata ; 4th, some large molar teeth which in some respects would seem to belong to an enormous rodent; 5th, also some smaller teeth belonging to the same order. If it interests you sufficiently to unpack them, I shall be very curious to hear something about them. Care must be taken in this case not to confuse the tallies. They are mingled with marine shells which appear to me identical with what now exist. But since they were deposited in their beds several geological changes have taken place in the country. So much for the dead, and now for the living : there is a poor specimen of a bird which to my unornithological eyes appears to be a happy mixture of a lark, pigeon and snipe (No. 710). Mr. MacLeay himself never imagined such an inosculating creature: I suppose it will turn out to be some well known bird, although it has quite baffled me. I have taken some interesting Amphibia ; a new Trigonocephalus beautifully connecting in its habits Crotalus and the Viperidas, and plenty of new (as far as my knowledge goes) saurians. As for one little toad, I hope it may be new, that it may be christened “ diabolicus.” Milton must allude to this very individual when he talks of “ squat like a toad ” ;* 1 its colours are by Werner2 ink black, vermilion red and buff orange. It has been a splendid cruise for me in Nat. History. Amongst the Pelagic Crustacea, some new and curious genera. In the Zoophytes some interesting animals. As for one Flustra, if Glyptodontidae, and not to Megatherium. We are indebted to Mr. Kerr for calling our attention to a passage in Buckland’s Bridgewater Treatise (Vol. II., p. 20, note), where bony armour is ascribed to Megatherium. 1 “. . . him [Satan] there they [Ithuriel and Zephon] found, Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve ” (Paradise Lost, Book IV., line 800). “Formerly Milton’s Paradise Lost had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the Beagle, when I could take only a single volume, I always chose Milton ” {Autobiography, p. 69). 2 Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours, Edinburgh, 1821.
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