History of Ecological Sciences, Part 37: Charles Darwin's Voyage on the Beagle

Abstract

Click here for all previous articles in the History of the Ecological Sciences series by F. N. Egerton …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. Six years later, in October 1825, he went to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. He stayed only two years and learned as much or more outside the classroom as he did in it. He associated with zoologist Robert Grant, who encouraged his studies on marine life and told him about Lamarck's theory of transformism, and probably discussed Erasmus Darwin's also (Desmond and Moore 1991:40). Darwin made some original discoveries about several marine invertebrates from the Firth of Forth, which he reported to the Plinian Society (Allan 1977:35, Darwin 1977, II:285–291, Desmond and Moore 1991:37–39, Browne 1995:82–87, Stott 2003:35–36). Although Darwin later remembered Professor Robert Jameson's geology lectures as boring (Darwin 1959:52), he probably heard or read Jameson's comprehensive "On the Growth of Coral Islands" (1827 [Sponsel 2009:83]). After two years, Darwin decided against a medical career and left Edinburgh. His four years at Cambridge University (1828–1831) were meant to prepare him to become a Church of England clergyman, but his most important education there came outside clerical preparatory classes (van Wyhe 2009), from friendship with Professor of Botany John Stevens Henslow (1796–1861) (Barlow 1967, Mathew 1972, Walters and Stow 2001:78–104, Walters 2004a, b, Kohn et al. 2005) and his geological field trip with Prof. Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) in the summer of 1831 (Barrett 1974, Dolan 2004, Herbert 2005:36–46, Secord 2005). "But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles" (1959:62). Darwin had been inspired by reading Humboldt's Personal Narrative of travels in Spanish America to plan his own expedition to Teneriffe, Canary Islands (Darwin 1959:67–68), but it never materialized. Then, in August 1831, Henslow received an appeal to serve as a naturalist on a naval survey ship, Beagle, under Captain Robert FitzRoy (1805–1865); Henslow declined and recommended Darwin instead (Darwin 1985–1988, I:127–129). The purpose of the voyage was to map the coastlines of South America and some oceanic islands. During most of the 1800s the best British education in physical sciences was offered to army engineers and naval officers (Ratcliff 2008:26). FitzRoy was an officer who benefited from this training, and he made important contributions to hydrography and meteorology (Mellersh 1968, Basalla 1972, Nichols 2003, Gribbin and Gribbin 2004, McConnell 2004a, b). His habits of precision and thoroughness set a good example for Darwin. Contrary to the assumption of two historians (Gruber 1969, Burstyn 1975), Darwin went on the voyage as the official naturalist, though his expenses were paid by his father, Dr. Robert Darwin. There was a substantial library aboard the Beagle, including multi-volume reference works on zoology (Stoddart 1962:118–120, Burkhardt and Smith 1985a). As a parting gift, Henslow gave Darwin a copy of Humboldt's Personal Narrative. Like all great scientists, Darwin was a hard worker, and during the almost five years voyage (27 December 1831–1832 to October 1836), he diligently observed, collected specimens, took notes, and preserved superb evidence of his work. Virtually all his evidence still exists, mostly published. All his works that he himself published are now accessible at 〈Darwin-online.org.uk〉. His surviving correspondence from the period of the voyage consists of 152 letters, about half of which he wrote (Darwin 1985–1988, I:192–504). He drew upon his records, collections, and his memories to write one of the most valuable science travel books ever published, Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H. M. S. Beagle 1839. Three modern books discuss his voyage (Barlow 1945, Moorehead 1969, Keynes 2003), and numerous briefer accounts add to our understanding and appreciation of what he experienced and achieved (including von Hagen 1945:169–229, Life Editors and Barnett 1960, Hopkins 1969, Armstrong 1991, Armstrong 1992, 2004, Rice 1999:230–259, McCalman 2009:15–81). Darwin made a good collection of fishes, though he said little about them in his Journal of Researches (Pauly 2004:213–240). Although he would have four entomologists describe his new species of insects, he did have interesting discussions of insects in his Journal of Researches (Riley 1882:71–73, Remington and Remington 1961). Duncan Porter points out (1980:515) that Darwin's geological notes from the voyage (1383 pages) are almost four times longer than his biological notes (368 pages), and Darwin's geological observations have now received the attention they deserve (Herbert 2005). Since Darwin had learned little geology before participating in geological field work in the summer of 1831, a few months before the voyage began, why did he so quickly become a geologist? He became deeply influenced by Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology (three volumes, 1830–1833), volume I of which was given to him by FitzRoy, while Henslow sent him volume II (1832) during the voyage (Darwin 1959:77, 101, Barlow 1967:10–11, Gruber 1985:15–18, Herbert 2005:63–70). A major attraction was that Lyell defended the uniformitarian theory that Darwin found more creditable than Georges Cuvier's catastrophist theory. Natural histories of plants and animals contained very limited theories—in contrast to Lyell's theory of geology, which seemed to encompass all geological phenomena (1959:77). Geology and natural history merged in Darwin's studies of fossils and of coral islands. The first of three volumes he published on the geology of the voyage (Freeman 1965:41) was on the structure of coral reefs. The Beagle's first landing was at St. Jago in the Cape Verde Islands on 18 January 1832 (Armstrong 2004:38–45, Chancellor and van Wyhe 2009:3–6). Darwin wanted to see the kind of tropical vegetation that Humboldt had described at Teneriffe in the Canary Islands and was at first disappointed because the Cape Verde Islands were rather arid. However, he eventually found a deep valley that retained moisture and provided the emotional experience he sought (Darwin 1988:23). The commonest bird was a kingfisher (Dacelo jagoensis) that sat on castor-oil plants and darted out to catch grasshoppers and lizards (Darwin 1839:2). He took extensive notes on marine invertebrates (Darwin 2000:9–21), but only the notes on an octopus appeared in his Journal of Researches (1839:6–7). He watched it change color, squirt ink, and when he bent down to look more closely, it squirted water at him. They departed on 8 February, and their second stop, 16–19 February 1832, was at the uninhabited (by people) St. Paul's Rocks, near the equator (Edwards 1985, Campbell 1997:42–48, Armstrong 2004:46–50, Chancellor and van Wyhe 2009:6). Darwin (1839:8) gave the location as 0°58′ North latitude and 29°5″ West longitude, and 540 miles from South America. From a distance, the rocks appeared white, due partly to a glossy white substance in some rocks and partly to accumulated bird guano. In 1813 H.M.S. Rhin visited the rocks and Lt. George Chrichton drew a map and profile chart, but in 1832 FitzRoy did both again (Edwards 1985: Figs. 1a and 2). St. Paul's highest point is only about 60 feet (18.3 m) above sea level, and the islets are only 3/4 of a mile (2 km) in diameter. The route of H. M. S. Beagle in its voyage around the world. De Beer 1967:39. St. Paul's Rocks, from the east. Illustrated London News. By the side of many of these nests a small flying-fish was placed, which I suppose, had been brought by the male bird for its partner…quickly a large and active crab ( Graspus ), which inhabits the crevices of the rock, stole the fish from the side of the nest, as soon as we had disturbed the birds. The following list completes, I believe, the terrestrial fauna: a species of Feronia and an acarus, which must have come here as parasites on the birds; a small brown moth, belonging to a genus that feeds on feathers; a staphylinus ( Quedius ) and a wood louse from beneath the dung; and lastly, numerous spiders, which I suppose prey on these small attendants on, and scavengers of the waterfowl. After reading this account, Rear-Admiral William Symonds told Darwin that he had seen at St. Paul's crabs drag young birds from nests and eat them. Darwin added this information to this account in the second edition of his Journal (1845:10). Because this is the earliest known food web (Egerton 2007:51), Darwin's brief observations now carry a historical significance that they lacked when published, and so more details about the species he observed are desirable. He collected two unknown tick species, now named Amblyomma hirtum (Neumann 1906:201–203) and A. darwini (Hirst and Hirst 1910:239–240), which are only known from two locations: St. Paul's Rocks and the Galapagos Islands. He was first to collect them in both places. His specimens are now in the Natural History Museum, London (Robinson 1926:156–158, 221–222). He also collected the argasid tick, Ornithodoros capensis, and a bird louse, Actornithophilus sp. from the brown booby nests and hippoboscid flies from dead brown boobies. No spiders were in his collections, but Scytodes sp. now lives there and may be what he saw (Edwards and Lubbock 1983:54–55). Darwin's brown moth, Erechthias darwini, was only named in 1983, because no specimen survived in his collections. It resembles the genus Darwin had in mind but is in a different family that cannot digest the keratin of feathers. It eats instead the dried seaweed of the nests (Robinson 1983). As previously mentioned, (Egerton 2009), Darwin was the second known user of what we now call a plankton net (with Lesueur earlier using a dip net). He drew a crude sketch of his, four feet deep, and first discussed its use on 10 January 1832 in his Beagle diary, which he never published (Darwin 1988:21). On 11 January he wrote in his diary (1988:22): "I am quite tired having worked all day at the produce of my net—The number of animals that the net collects is very great & fully explains the manner so many animals of a large size live so far from land." His Zoology Notes (2000:3–7) contain notes and drawings on the animals collected in his net on these two days. In Journal of Researches (1839:14–18), he first discussed phytoplankton observations after his account of St. Paul's Rocks, on 18 March; the account consists mostly of superficial anatomical descriptions. Next, he discussed numerous small crustaceans which sealers called whale-food, but he failed to make explicit here a food chain that was implicit–from minute organisms to crustaceans to whales—and only much later in his Journal of Researches (1839:189) did he even mention using his net. The day has passed delightfully: delight is however a weak term for such transports of pleasure: I have been wandering by myself in a Brazilian forest: amongst the multitude it is hard to say what set of objects is most striking: the general luxuriance of the vegetation bears the victory, the elegance of the grasses, the novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of the flowers.—the glossy green of the foliage, all tend to this end.—A most paradoxical mixture of sound & silence pervades the shady parts of the wood.—the noise from the insects is so loud that in the evening it can be heard even in a vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore. Darwin's South American travels. Von Hagen 1945:228. The next day, he gushed: "I can only add raptures to the former raptures." However, rapture does not necessarily lead to discernment. A commentator on his bird watching in South America points out (Haupt 2006:54–56) that he was on the continent having the greatest diversity of bird species and in the forest that contains most of that diversity, yet he was unable to see much more than the vegetation and was into the and he lacked the which now to the we find the of two plants, now become The in great the in the of and the ( ) has a far it in these on both of the the I saw it in in and In the very many several miles are by one of these plants, and are by or was earliest of a by what was told me in London is that there are no small insects in the from the I entomologists to look out and have their for I have as minute not more as in It is interesting to the of and species from which I a specimen little the insects are to consists of three in one of my took five of Darwin's biological observations at were not new to though new to him and seen in species, and so not previously published and van Wyhe He had been in biological of South America by Humboldt (Egerton 2009), and Charles collected specimens for the in in and published volumes, for see von Hagen a which did not as an as did Darwin's Journal of Researches 1974, and though his contributions are now Darwin observed army which insects to or be he watched a a to food for its young when they from and he watched spiders kill and on insects The insects he collected and his notes about them are now published and his specimens of his specimens were described in by and Smith to that in his The Zoology of the of H.M.S. Beagle (Darwin was limited to Darwin's about the he were what one in a travel but he also followed Humboldt's example of or of (Egerton on in visited that or Henslow had given Darwin the first two volumes of the of Humboldt's Personal Narrative to on the and the Beagle diary that he never published has to Humboldt (Darwin some of these later appeared in his Journal of Researches 1839. He reported that had Charles in the Galapagos Cape and the and St. and species, of which only were In Darwin that the would a when the became more Darwin at the of near the what can be they Darwin on and birds not in the forest they were though but they were more on around of at the of His (Darwin Chancellor and van Wyhe he was there from to The Beagle had visited from to August 1832, and in his Journal of Researches Darwin his there on I parts of my which to the to the in which we visited his observations on and birds not from During that in he the Beagle's to be his to collect biological specimens and also to be his The number of specimens Darwin this of his Journal of Researches by a that was in to up and them. The only large on this was a which was as far as It could be to kill by but it from on it was not by was very numerous in was was feet two with a of feet 8 They on at the of and more of and and they They were because had been and did not them. On they were the prey of was a small with habits of a in with a They were and The from its it was earlier Spanish and naturalist, had that were in their Egerton as were in Darwin later that he had work only after he had published his Journal of Researches (Darwin probably because is not in the In he three times on Darwin was quite interested in this in two species on different They had very different and and and with had observed this in and probably Darwin observed the species in the near though there were two species in the one of which while the does not Darwin an extensive of and notes (Darwin to and which the parts of South America. He found them though at times also They were of his notes on them were into his Journal of Researches He discussed four species of the and and from the of and reported that they also and They also and them to up was than and than the A species to but was seen in only one and a species, on the and but not on the The in from Cape to North America and was or in near were in and and never of latitude Since were in he discussed them Darwin found on the of naturalist William who had up near this in these only the from on one side to on the Darwin in of his (Darwin Darwin a in the of species and in species that are were and He had a number of to on the in and van Wyhe and he a account of its natural history in Journal of Researches Like in and in in a and and tend the Although when of water are they there and catch small in he heard of a species, and one day when a was for he that this bird was of the species, and he its and and sent them to after his John named it though had named it in 1972, England 2004, observed that Darwin his observations of at in when there were in and so he had the when he have that have a on their and the have a A species, lives in the The Beagle visited and in Darwin found the of more geological than biological (Darwin Armstrong 1992, Chancellor and van Wyhe A modern found more interesting there than Darwin did Darwin observed the which had no of He with the that black in the were and were the species as the of the as they when However, he was that the which he was a species because the and said there was no such on the he saw the and it was a different have the may have been a a and an or Spanish He of no so far from a that had so large a The stole food when it and Darwin that it would soon be (Armstrong On from he and collected Darwin's also of (Darwin It was not found again and now is Although the seemed the did Darwin that the a of and he this important account of them in his Zoology Notes Darwin now Darwin The Zoology of the sea is I the here as in is the & of of which are with the of is to From which are at water & in it even is to in From the in which these are by & the in which the may be but not to a than it I can only these great to terrestrial in the most of the yet the in were to be I not that nearly the number of animals would in them as would in the of All the & birds the by the number of small fish which live amongst the are not so very my specimens I nearly the invertebrates I mention them in of their of my collection no of the minute & are on the is white with such or & & these with a of minute be The number of & is a very as in a are the On the great it is to see the of which I have much the is but & on all the is an & most interesting this was to with it would the the & the small fish & or later the must The number of the invertebrates would but many it is hard to There are a number of and in the Darwin is the of the on the of the to that of the tropical size of and species diversity of He to using the of food and species, of these were not nearly a He that there are and and very that are to their The a and A modern on the forest Darwin on it with et al. Darwin's Darwin a zoologist who three books on the Beagle voyage and wrote one on Darwin as a of and as evidence the above from the Zoology The Darwin's as it had Humboldt's (Egerton Humboldt saw it in the of its who around South from to could its rather It the and the as far as the latitude but only around Like Darwin reported about young and John had reported in which he that and had a of he with near birds and they it the was Darwin the with and the His and seemed but we now that can but cannot The of Darwin with its but the Spanish to the had He collected a which Henslow described and named Darwin also collected a few be

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 17 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.