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DARWIN,* CHARLES R., born at Shrewsbury, February 12, 1809, is a son of Dr. R. W. Darwin, F.R.S., of the same place, and grandson of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, F.R.S., author of the ''Botanic Garden," ''Zoonomia,'' &c. He was educated at the Grammar School at Shrewsbury. In 1825 he went to Edinburgh; and attended the Lectures at the university for two years. At Christmas, 1827, he entered Christ' s College, Cambridge, and took his degree in 1831. In the autumn of that year, Captain FitzRoy, R.N., offered to give up part of his own cabin to any one who would volunteer to accompany H.M.S. Beagle as naturalist. Mr. Darwin offered his services, and sailed in the Beagle, for the survey of South America and the circumnavigation of the globe, on December 27, 1831, and returned to England October 2, 1836. Mr. Darwin published an account of the voyage under the title of ''Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries, &c.," which first appeared together with a general account of the voyage by Captain FitzRoy; it has subsequently been published separately, and has had a larger sale. Mr. Darwin resided in London from 1831 down to 1842, when he removed to his country-house near Bromley, in Kent. In 1839 Mr. Darwin married the granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S. the well known improver and manufacturer of earthenware. Besides numerous papers on various scientific subjects, Mr. Darwin edited the "Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle," and published three separate volumes on geology, under the titles of "The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs," 1842; ''Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands," 1844; and ''Geological Observations on South America," 1846. The most important of Mr. Darwin's subsequent works are his Monography, in two large volumes, published in 1851 and 1853 by the Ray Society,

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and two volumes on fossil Cirripedia, published by the Palæontographical Society. At the close of 1859, Mr, Darwin published his ''Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection,"

which has now, (1861) gone through three editions. Mr. Darwin has been elected a member of various Foreign and English scientific bodies. The Royal Society awarded, in 1853, the Gold medal to Mr. Darwin far his various scientific works; and in 1859 the Geological Society awarded him the Wollaston Palladian medal.