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Introduction
The interest that Charles Darwin had in corals, barnacles, earthworms, and orchids is well documented and, indeed, his work led to monographs now essential to the biologists working on these groups.
Not so for fishes: although he was interested in this group, as attested by numerous observations scattered throughout his published work, and his notebooks and correspondence, Darwin never authored any book or paper devoted solely, or even mainly to fishes. Thus, ichthyologists and Darwin scholars interested in Darwin’s treatment of this most speciose group among the vertebrates until now had to contend themselves with Fish, which describes the fishes collected by Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836), but which was edited, rather than authored by Darwin.
The publication of my book on Darwin’s Fishes (Pauly 2004), which assembles and comments on all that Darwin wrote on fish, established that Darwin contributed substantially to ichthyology. If successful, Darwin’s Fishes should heighten interest in Fish, and in the Reverend Leonard Jenyns, its author.
Darwin’s input into Fish was substantial: he sampled all the fish reported upon by Jenyns, who also had access to all of his field notes (notably on live colours and sampling sites). Further, it is Darwin who 'superintended' the publication of Fish, as amply documented in his correspondence. Still it is Jenyns who identified and/or named Darwin’s specimens and we shall briefly meet the man before we discuss his work.
Leonard Jenyns was born in London in 1800, the son of George Leonard Jenyns, vicar of Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire. In 1828, he became vicar of Swaffham Bulbeck, also in Cambridgeshire. By the mid 1830s, a substantial publication record had established his reputation as a naturalist, one of two reasons why Darwin invited him, in 1836, to document the collection of fish he had assembled during the voyage of the Beagle. The second reason was friendship: Jenyns’ sister Harriet had married, in 1823, J.S. Henslow, Darwin’s mentor and friend, and this had provided, long before Darwin went on the Beagle, numerous opportunities for Darwin and Jenyns to meet, and to gradually appreciate each other.
However, Darwin’s relationship with Jenyn’s was strained at first, Darwin finding Jenyns 'selfish and illiberal'- apparently because he had refused to exchange some of his specimens with the youthful Darwin, then engrossed in collecting insects. Darwin then competed with Jenyns ('I think I beat Jenyns at Colymbetes' [...] 'I am glad of it if it is merely to spite Mr Jenyns'). Finally, things settled and Darwin could report to his cousin William Darwin Fox: 'I have seen lots of him lately, & the more I see the more I like him.'
In 1849, Jenyns moved to the Isle of Wright, then, shortly thereafter to Swainswick, near Bath, where he founded the Bath Natural History Society. He remained very active, his publications reflecting wide-ranging interests, all much appreciated by Darwin. In 1887, he published an autobiography (reprinted in 1889), and died in 1893.
Returning to Fish, we should note that the first edition was published in four parts, over a period of 27 months, a fact of great importance to taxonomists. The full reference is thus as follows:
Jenyns, L. 1840-42. Part IV Fish In: The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the Command of Captain Fitzroy, during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder and Co., (in 4 parts): i-xvi + 1-172 p. Plates 1-29 [p. 1-32: Jan. 1840; p. 33-64: June 1840; p. 65-96: April 1841; p. 97-172: April 1842].
Fish is still in print, in two editions:
(i) In volume six of the 29-volume edition of The Works of Charles Darwin, edited by P.H. Barrett and R.B. Freeman, London: Pickering and Chatto, 253 p., and
(ii) In volume III of The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle during the years 1832-1836. Edited by Charles Darwin. Facsimile Reprint, 1980, Wellington, New Zealand, Nova Pacifica Publishing.
Also, Fish is included on Pete Goldie’s ‘Darwin Darwin-ROM (2nd edition; Lightbinders Inc., San Francisco, 1997), based on electronic files I supplied. The version on Darwin Online is a new transcription.
The species listed in Jenyns’ Fish represent the bulk of what I call ‘Darwin’s fishes’, consisting of the species which Darwin collected during the voyage of the Beagle, and which Jenyns described, the species which Darwin wrote about, either in his formal publications, or in his notebooks, letters or marginalia, and all eponymous fish species, i.e., named after Darwin. All of these species are presented, with updated names where necessary, in Darwin’s Fishes.
A single volume version of Fish (F9) is forthcoming on Darwin Online. This online version of Jenyns’ Fish, also provided opportunities for some updating. This was done by linking his species names with the now valid names of these species in FishBase (www.fishbase.org), and correspondingly for families (note that many of Jenyns’ assignments to families have changed, even when the species names have not). As well, Jenyns’ sometimes obscure citations to the literature are all expanded upon, and where available, linked to sites from which the reference in question can be downloaded.
Finally, I take this opportunity for thanking Ms Sandra Gayosa for creating, in 1994, the file used for this online edition of Fish, Ms Yvette Rizzo for the links to FishBase and Dr. M.L. ‘Deng’ Palomares for expanding and linking the references.
Daniel Pauly
November 2006
Darwin, C. R. ed. 1840. Fish Part 4 No. 1 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.12
Darwin, C. R. ed. 1840. Fish Part 4 No. 2 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.14
Darwin, C. R. ed. 1841. Fish Part 4 No. 3 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.16
Darwin, C. R. ed. 1842. Fish Part 4 No. 4 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By Leonard Jenyns. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co. Text Image Text & image F8.17
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