British Museum (Natural History)

Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Darwin's Insects Charles Darwin 's Entomological Notes Kenneth G. V. Smith (Editor) Historical series Vol 14 No 1 24 September 1987 The Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), instituted in 1949, is issued in four scientific series, Botany, Entomology, Geology (incorporating Mineralogy) and Zoology, and an Historical series. Papers in the Bulletin are primarily the results of research carried out on the unique and ever-growing collections of the Museum, both by the scientific staff of the Museum and by specialists from elsewhere who make use of the Museum's resources. Many of the papers are works of reference that will remain indispensable for years to come. Parts are published at irregular intervals as they become ready, each is complete in itself, available separately, and individually priced. Volumes contain about 300 pages and several volumes may appear within a calendar year. Subscriptions may be placed for one or more of the series on either an Annual or Per Volume basis. Prices vary according to the contents of the individual parts. Orders and enquiries should be sent to: Publications Sales, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, England. World List abbreviation: Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (hist. Ser.) © British Museum (Natural History), 1987 '""•-C-'- '.;.,, t •••v.'. ISSN 0068-2306 Historical series 0565 ISBN 09003 8 Vol 14 No. 1 pp 1-141 British Museum (Natural History) Cromwell Road London SW7 5BD Issued 24 September 1987 I Darwin's Insects Charles Darwin's Entomological Notes, with an introduction and comments by Kenneth G. V. Smith Department of Entomology British Museum (Natural History), London SW7 5BD Issued 24 1987 Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (hist. Ser.) 14(1): 1-143 September To Richard Broke Freeman (1915-1986) Wo branch ofnatural science has morefullyfelt the beneficial impulse and stimulus ofDarwin 's labors than entomology' C.V.Riley, 1883 Contents Synopsis 4 Introduction 5 Darwin's British Insects 7 Entomology on the Beagle voyage 12 Darwin's Insects in the British Museum (Natural History) 20 Darwin's Insects in the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge 24 Darwin's Insects in the Hope Entomological Collections, University Museum, Oxford . 29 Darwin's Insects in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin 30 Darwin's Insects at Down House and elsewhere 35 Darwin's Insect Notes 39 Eponyms 106 Acknowledgements 112 Notes 113 References 115 Geographical and Name Index 125 Scientific Index 1 29 Synopsis The insects collected by Charles Darwin, both on the Beagle voyage and in the United Kingdom, are discussed and their present location indicated. Comments are made on these specimens within the framework of Darwin's entomological notes preserved in London {Insect Notes) and in Cambridge {Insects in Spirits of Wine) published here for the first time. These comments include identification of the insects with published descriptions to date and also present new information on unrecorded material, including new records for the Galapagos Islands and South America. There is some discussion of more general topics including the possibility of insect transmitted Chagas' disease as a cause of Darwin's ill health (see Insect Notes, 2913, 3423). A full list of entomological eponyms formed from Darwin's name is given, along with an extensive bibliography. Introduction Charles Darwin's interest in entomology began in childhood. In his autobiographical notes (see Darwin, F., 1 887, Vol. 1 : 34) he wrote: I must have observed insects with some little care, for when ten years old (1819) I went for three weeks to Plas Edwards on the sea coast in Wales, I was very much interested and surprised at seeing a large black and scarlet Hemipterous insect, many moths (Zygaena), and a Cicindela which are not found in Shropshire. I almost made up my mind to begin collecting all the insects which I could find dead, for on consulting my sister I concluded that it was not right to kill insects for the sake of making a collection. Elsewhere (p. 51) in the autobiography however he says: I was introduced to entomology by my second cousin, W. Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ's College. Darwin spent much of his spare time at Cambridge (1828-31) collecting beetles with William 1 Fox, Leonard Jenyns, Albert Way and H. Thompson. He would also press others into service of 2 'the science' as he called it so that John Herbert recalled (Darwin, F., 1887, Vol. 1: 168): and very soon he armed me with a bottle of alcohol, in which I had to drop any beetle which struck me as not of a common kind. His summer vacations were given up to 'collecting beetles, to some reading, and short tours'. 3 He visited the Reverend F.W. Hope who was later to establish the Chair of Entomology at 4 Oxford with J.O. Westwood as the first Hope Professor. Hope had a high opinion of Darwin's entomological ability and in July 1829 the two men went on a collecting trip in North Wales. 5 Darwin's most important contact at Cambridge was Professor J.S. Henslow who not only broadened his whole approach to natural history, including entomology, but was instrumental in securing his appointment as naturalist on the Beagle voyage. While entomology was not the major preoccupation of the Beagle voyage some of the captures and observations were important and played their part in the formulation of his later theories (in contrast to his well-known comment to Lyell in 1863 (Darwin,—F., 1887, Vol. 3: 69) that 'entomolog«ta are enough to keep the subject back for half a century' my italics). Darwin's contributions to entomology have been briefly assessed by Riley (1883), Poulton (1901), Carpenter (1935, 1936) and Remington & Remington (1961). Freeman (1977) provides a bibliography to Darwin's publications in book form and Barrett (1977) reprints Darwin's contributions to serial publications. Kritsky (1981) gives a brief survey of Darwin's entomological work and includes a useful index to more than 1600 text references to insects contained in Darwin's published works, though mostly in American editions. The present work indicates the sources of information of Darwin's contributions to entomology and attempts to locate and comment upon the insect specimens collected by Charles Darwin especially during the voyage of the Beagle. The Beagle material is identified within the framework of Darwin's entomological notes preserved in the British Museum (Natural History) {Insect Notes), at the University of Cambridge {Insects in Spirits of Wine) and at Down House (the original Notebooks). The Zoological Diary, preserved in the University of Cambridge, also contains K. G. V. SMITH entomological notes which are quoted where they are cited in the Insect Notes and not already published in the Journal (Darwin, C, 1845). Information (see Notes, p. 113) is also given on entomologists and others who collected insect specimens for Darwin or were otherwise involved in his entomological work. Darwin's British Insects Darwin was a fanatical beetle collector and in his Autobiography (Darwin, F., 1887; Vol. 1 : 50) he says: But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles. It was the mere passion for collecting; for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared their external characters with published descriptions, but got them named anyhow. I will give a proof of my zeal: one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one. He was always searching for new collecting methods and was very proud when his first records appeared in print and goes on to say: I was very successful in collecting and inventing two new methods; I employed a labourer to scrape during the winter, moss off old trees and place it in a large bag, and likewise to collect the rubbish at the bottom of the barges in which reeds are brought from the fens, and thus I got some very rare species. No poet ever felt more delighted at seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing, in Stephen's 'Illustrations of British Insects', the magic words "captured by C. Darwin, Esq.". In Stephens, Illustrations ofBritish Entomology (1827-45) the following records (given in quotes by Stephens) are attributed to 'C. Darwin Esq.'. There are several references to these records in the literature but they do not appear to have been listed before. Since in effect they constitute Darwin's first publication (Freeman, 1977: 19) they are listed here with Darwin's original data in large type and (where necessary) equivalent modern nomenclature and comments set below in small type. Mandibulata vol. 2 (Appendix) (15 June 1829) [Coleoptera] Carabidae p. 188. Ocys tempestivus Panzer 'Cambridge' [Trechus quadristriatus (Schrank)]. Common in dry open country. p. 191. Blethisa multipunctata L. 'In great abundance near Cambridge in 1829' A widely distributed but local species usually in open marshy places at the edges of ponds. It is recorded from the Cambridgeshire Fens (Donisthorpe, 1904). [Col. Haliplidae] p. 191. Haliplus elevatus Panzer 'Near Cambridge, 1829' [Brychius elevatus Panzer)]. Common (less so in the north) in running water. [Col. Dytiscidae] p. 191. Hygrotus scitulus Spence ms., 'Near Cambridge' [Hydroporus lepidus Olivier].

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