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INTRODUCTION

THE Beagle finally sailed on the 27th December, 1831, but her _original start was planned for an earlier date, in November. Darwin, then a young naturalist of nearly twenty-three, had eagerly anticipated the day and hour. "What a glorious day," he wrote to Captain Fitz Roy, "it will be to me-my second life will then commence." He had owed his appointment to a remarkable man, Professor Henslow, the botanist, who did more for Darwin and his training than any one else at Cambridge. "I suppose," said Henslow in a letter to him offering the appointment, "there never was a finer chance for a man of zeal and spirit." As Darwin was intended by his father for a parson, grave objection was taken at home to the adventure. Its issue, and its importance both to himself and to the cause of science at large, are to be inferred from the present vogue of what is now a many times reprinted work. Its first appearance was as a third volume of the officiai "Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836." This third volume, "Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836," was published in 1839. The "Journal" next appeared independently-described as a second edition, "corrected with additions," in 1845. In 1860, it reappeared as “A Naturalist's Voyage." (For the other concurrent writings, that were a result of the same voyage, see the list of works overleaf.) Darwin, speaking of the book afterwards in his "Autobiography," said: "The success of this my first literary child always tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books." This first essay has an added biographical interest, moreover, in that it represents Darwin in his first period, before he had arrived at the theory by which he revolutionized the modes of science and the interpretation of nature. It is Darwin's pre-Darwinian tractate. After this voyage, the adventures of his life were of the simplest. He never left British shores again. He married in 1839 and lived then in London, but found London life too trying for his uncertain health, and retired to Down in Kent in 1842, his residence for forty years. He died there on April 19, 1882. He was born, the son of a very able practising physician, in Shrewsbury, at a house called "The Mount,” on February 12, 1809. His grandfather was Erasmus Darwin, who

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anticipated, if ever so slightly, the researches which led in a later generation to the evolution theory as we now know it, and as worked out by Charles Darwin.

The following list includes all Darwin's published volumes:

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Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of Her Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, etc. ("Journal and Remarks, Vol. III.), 1839. Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World, etc.; 2nd Ed., with corrections and additions, 1845. A Naturalist's Voyage ("Journal of Researches, etc.), 1860. Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in Five Parts (Fossil Mammalia, Mammalia, Birds, Fish, Reptiles), ed. by C. Darwin, 1840-3. The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (First Part of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle), 1842, 1874. Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle), 2nd Part, 1844; 3rd Part, 1846; 2nd Ed., 1876. A Monograph of the Fossil Lepadidæ; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes of Great Britain (Pal. Soc.), 1851. A Monograph of the Sub-class Cirripedia, etc. (Ray Soc.), 1851. The Balanidæ (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc. (Ray Soc.), 1854. A Monograph of the Fossil Balanidæ and Verrucidæ of Great Britain (Pal. Soc.), 1854. Of the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 1859, 1860; 3rd Ed., with additions and corrections, 1861; 4th, 5th, 6th, each with additions and corrections, 1866, 1869, 1882. On the Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilized by Insects, 1862, 1877. The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants, 1875 (from “ Journal of the Linnean Soc."). The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, 1868; 2nd Ed., revised, 1875. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 1871, 1874. The Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals, 1872. Insectivorous Plants, 1875. The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom, 1876, 1878. The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species, 1877, 1880. The Power of Movement in Plants (assisted by F. Darwin), 1880. The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, etc., 1881.

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Scientific Papers by Darwin appeared in the Proceedings of the Geological, Zoological, Geographical and Linnean Societies, and in the "Ann. and Mag. Natural History," 1835-1882; in Nature, 1869, etc.; in Mind,' and the Gardener's Chronicle." (A posthumous essay on instinct is given in "Mental Evolution in Animals," by Romanes, 1883, and in the " Journal of the Linnean Soc!"; some contributions are also included in works by other

authors.)

Life and Letters, including an autobiographical chapter, ed. F. Darwin, 3 vols., 1887. Charles Darwin: His Life told in an autobiographical chapter, and in a selected series of his published letters, ed. F. Darwin, 1892, 1902. More Letters of Charles Darwin, ed. F. Darwin, 1903. Life (Great Writers), by G. T. Bettany, 1887.

1906.

PREFACE

I HAVE stated in the preface to the first Edition of this work, and in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, that it was in consequence of a wish expressed by Captain Fitz Roy, of having some scientific person on board, accompanied by an offer from him of giving up part of his own accommodations, that I volunteered my services, which received, through the kindness of the hydrographer, Captain Beaufort, the sanction of the Lords of the Admiralty. As I feel that the opportunities which I enjoyed of studying the Natural History of the different countries we visited, have been wholly due to Captain Fitz Roy, I hope I may here be permitted to repeat my expression of gratitude to him; and to add that, during the five years we were together, I received from him the most cordial friendship and steady assistance. Both to Captain Fitz Roy and to all the Officers of the Beagle1 I shall ever feel most thankful for the undeviating kindness with which I was treated during our long voyage.

This volume contains, in the form of a Journal, a history of our voyage, and a sketch of those observations in Natural History and Geology, which I think will possess some interest for the general reader. I have in this edition largely condensed and corrected some parts, and have added a little to others, in order to render the volume more fitted for popular reading; but I trust that naturalists will remember, that they must refer for details to the larger publications, which comprise the scientific results of the Expedition. The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle includes an account of the Fossil Mammalia, by Professor Owen; of the Living Mammalia, by Mr. Waterhouse; of the Birds, by Mr. Gould; of the Fish, by the Rev. L. Jenyns; and of the Reptiles, by Mr. Bell. I have appended to the descriptions of each species an account of its habits and range. These works, which I owe to the high talents and disinterested zeal of the above distinguished authors, could not have been undertaken, had it not been for the liberality of the

1 I must take this opportunity of returning my sincere thanks to Mr. Bynoe, the surgeon of the Beagle, for his very kind attention to me when I was ill at Valparaiso.

Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, who, through the representation of the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer, have been pleased to grant a sum of one thousand pounds towards defraying part of the expenses of publication.

I have myself published separate volumes on the "Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs;" on the "Volcanic Islands visited during the Voyage of the Beagle ;" and on the "Geology of South America." The sixth volume of the "Geological Transactions" contains two papers of mine on the Erratic Boulders and Volcanic Phenomena of South America. Messrs. Waterhouse, Walker, Newman, and White, have published several able papers on the Insects which were collected, and I trust that many others will hereafter follow. The plants from the southern parts of America will be given by Dr. J. Hooker, in his great work on the Botany of the Southern Hemisphere. The Flora of the Galapagos Archipelago is the subject of a separate memoir by him, in the "Linnean Transactions." The Reverend Professor Henslow has published a list of the plants collected by me at the Keeling Islands; and the Reverend J. M. Berkeley has described my cryptogamic plants.

I shall have the pleasure of acknowledging the great assistance which I have received from several other naturalists, in the course of this and my other works; but I must be here allowed to return my most sincere thanks to the Reverend Professor Henslow, who, when I was an under-graduate at Cambridge, was one chief means of giving me a taste for Natural History,—who, during my absence, took charge of the collections I sent home, and by his correspondence directed my endeavours, and who, since my return, has constantly rendered me every assistance which the kindest friend could offer.

Down, Bromley, Kent.
June, 1845.

POSTSCRIPT

I TAKE the opportunity of a new edition of my Journal to correct a few errors. At page 78 I have stated that the majority of the shells which were embedded with the extinct mammals at Punta Alta, in Bahia Blanca, were still living species. These shells have since been examined (see “Geological Observations in South America,” p. 83) by M. Aleide d'Orbigny, and he pronounces them all to be recent. M. Aug. Bravard has lately described, in a Spanish work ("Observaciones Geologicas," 1857), this district, and he believes that the bones of the extinct mammals were washed out of the underlying Pampean deposit, and subsequently became embedded with the still existing shells; but I am not convinced by his remarks. M. Bravard believes that the whole enormous Pampean deposit is a sub-aërial formation, like sand-dunes: this seems to me to be an untenable doctrine.

At page 364 I give a list of the birds inhabiting the Galapagos Archipelago. The progress of research has shown that some of these birds, which were then thought to be confined to the islands, occur on the American continent. The eminent ornithologist, Mr. Sclater, informs me that this is the case with the Strix punctatissima and Pyrocephalus nanus; and probably with the Otus galapagoensis and Zenaida galapagoensis: so that the number of endemic birds is reduced to twenty-three, or probably to twenty-one. Mr. Sclater thinks that one or two of these endemic forms should be ranked rather as varieties than species, which always seemed to me probable.

The snake mentioned at page 367, as being, on the authority of M. Bibron, the same with a Chilian species, is stated by Dr. Günter (Zoolog. Soc., Jan. 24th, 1859) to be a peculiar species, not known to inhabit any other country.

Feb. 1st, 1860.

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