Although Darwin apparently wrote little about mollusks, the Beagle did
collect shells on its famous voyage with Darwin as the chief naturalist.
In my possession is an original watercolor drawing of Conus adamsonii
Broderip, 1836, captioned and inscribed in ink by the famous
conchologist George Sowerby's hand, after 1837, showing a shell brought
back from Darwin's Beagle. The inscription reads "Conus Adamsoni Brod.
Drawn from a specimen in possession of Sir George Whitmore Bart. Brought
to England by the Beagle Capt. Fitzroy, 1837 (sic)".

See N. Barlow, Charles Darwin's Diary of the Voyage of the Beagle
(1934), p.347, for evidence that the shell portrayed may have been
obtained from natives when the Beagle called at Tahiti in November 1835.
Broderip's description of the species was published the following year.
See also R.D. Keynes, The Beagle Record (1979), p.317, for an account of
shells brought on board the Beagle at Tahiti by an Englishman who sold
them to members of the ship.

Interestingly, Darwin's contemporary and co-founder of the theory of
evolution, Alfred Russel Wallace, did write more specifically on
mollusca.  A charming example is Wallace, Alfred Russel & Adam, Henry
"List of the Land shells collected by Mr. Wallace in the Malay
Archipelago" Proc.Zoo.Soc. 1865, pp. 405-416, pl. XXL.

Regards,
Scott Jordan

-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists of America List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Burton Vaughan
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 3:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Darwin's Works Available

Several people asked about obtaining copies of Darwin's main works,
"The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" and the "Descent
of Man & Selection in Relation to Sex." Today, I found 15 used sets in
nearly mint condition available on abebooks.com, varying from $5 to $18
US. All are reprintings of the original works by The Modern Library
(Random House). This edition of the out-of-print, two-volume set is
complete and unabridged, and I have been able to get it readily for
class use over several years.

His only reference to molluscs of all Classes, that I am aware of occur
in "Descent ... " --namely two pages where he discusses the idea of
sexual selection by color as being improbable, and considers  the
protective function to be only a passive consequence of local
environment. Both ideas are questionable, especially in light of
current epigenetic considerations.

Burton Vaughan, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor,  Evolutionary Biology
Washington State University-Tricities