Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

With an Introduction by David Amigoni.

Charles Darwin's travels around the world as an independent naturalist on HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836 impressed upon him a sense of the natural world's beauty and sublimity which language could barely capture. Words, he said, were inadequate to convey to those who have not visited the inter-tropical regions, the sensation of delight which the mind experiences'.

Yet in a travel journal which takes the reader from the coasts and interiors of South America to South Sea Islands, Darwin's descriptive powers are constantly challenged, but never once overcome. In addition, The Voyage of the Beagle displays Darwin's powerful, speculative mind at work, posing searching questions about the complex relation between the Earth's structure, animal forms, anthropology and the origins of life itself.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Porta Praya
• Ribeira Grande
• Atmospheric Dust with Infusoria
• Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish
• St. Paul's Rocks, non-volcanic
• Singular Incrustations
• Insects the first Colonists of Islands
• Fernando Noronha
• Bahia
• Burnished Rocks
• Habits of a Diodon
• Pelagic Confervae and Infusoria
• Causes of discoloured Sea
• Rio de Janeiro
• Excursion north of Cape Frio
• Great Evaporation
• Slavery
• Botofogo Bay
• Terrestrial Planariae
• Clouds on the Corcovado
• Heavy Rain
• Musical Frogs
• Phosphorescent Insects
• Elater, springing powers of
• Blue Haze
• Noise made by a Butterfly
• Entomology
• Ants
• Wasp killing a Spider
• Parasitical Spider
• Artifices of an Epeira
• Gregarious Spider
• Spider with an unsymmetrical Web
• Monte Video
• Maldonado
• Excursion to R. Polanco
• Lazo and Bolas
• Partridges
• Absence of Trees
• Deer
• Capybara, or River Hog
• Tucutuco
• Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits
• Tyrant-flycatcher
• Mocking-bird
• Carrion Hawks
• Tubes formed by Lightning
• House struck
• Rio Negro
• Estancias attacked by the Indians
• Salt Lakes
• Flamingoes
• R. Negro to R. Colorado
• Sacred Tree
• Patagonian Hare
• Indian Families
• General Rosas
• Proceed to Bahia Blanca
• Sand Dunes
• Negro Lieutenant
• Bahia Blanca
• Saline Incrustations
• Punta Alta
• Zorillo
• Bahia Blanca
• Geology
• Numerous gigantic extinct Quadrupeds
• Recent Extinction
• Longevity of Species
• Large Animals do not require a luxuriant vegetation
• Southern Africa
• Siberian Fossils
• Two Species of Ostrich
• Habits of Oven-bird
• Armadilloes
• Venomous Snake, Toad, Lizard
• Hybernation of Animals
• Habits of Sea-Pen
• Indian Wars and Massacres
• Arrow-head, antiquarian Relic
• Set out for Buenos Ayres
• Rio Sauce
• Sierra Ventana
• Third Posta
• Driving Horses
• Bolas
• Partridges and Foxes
• Features of the Country
• Long-legged Plover
• Terutero
• Hail-storm
• Natural Enclosures in the Sierra Tapalguen
• Flesh of Puma
• Meat Diet
• Guardia del Monte
• Effects of Cattle on the Vegetation
• Cardoon
• Buenos Ayres
• Corral where Cattle are slaughtered
• Excursion to St. Fe
• Thistle-Beds
• Habits of the Bizcacha
• Little Owl
• Saline Streams
• Level Plains
• Mastodon
• St. Fe
• Change in Landscape
• Geology
• Tooth of extinct Horse
• Relation of the Fossil and Recent Quadrupeds of North and South America
• Effects of a great Drought
• Parana
• Habits of the Jaguar
• Scissor-beak
• Kingfisher, Parrot, and Scissor-tail
• Revolution
• Buenos Ayres
• State of Government
• Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento
• Value of an Estancia
• Cattle, how counted
• Singular Breed of Oxen
• Perforated Pebbles
• Shepherd Dogs
• Horses broken-in, Gauchos riding
• Character of Inhabitants
• Rio Plata
• Flocks of Butterflies
• Aeronaut Spiders
• Phosphorescence of the Sea
• Port Desire
• Guanaco
• Port St. Julian
• Geology of Patagonia
• Fossil gigantic Animal
• Types of Organization constant
• Change in the Zoology of America
• Causes of Extinction
• Santa Cruz
• Expedition up the River
• Indians
• Immense Streams of Basaltic Lava
• Fragments not transported by the River
• Excavation of the Valley
• Condor, habits of
• Cordillera
• Erratic Boulders of great size
• Indian Relics
• Return to the Ship
• Falkland Islands
• Wild Horses, Cattle, Rabbits
• Wolf-like Fox
• Fire made of Bones
• Manner of hunting Wild Cattle
• Geology
• Streams of Stones
• Scenes of Violence
• Penguin
• Geese
• Eggs of Doris
• Compound Animals
• Tierra del Fuego, first arrival
• Good Success Bay
• An Account of the Fuegians on board
• Interview with the Savages
• Scenery of the Forests
• Cape Horn
• Wigwam Cove
• Miserable Condition of the Savages
• Famines
• Cannibals
• Matricide
• Religious Feelings
• Great Gale
• Beagle Channel
• Ponsonby Sound
• Build Wigwams and settle the Fuegians
• Bifurcation of the Beagle Channel
• Glaciers
• Return to the Ship
• Second Visit in the Ship to the Settlement
• Equality of Condition amongst the Natives
• Strait of Magellan
• Port Famine
• Ascent of Mount Tarn
• Forests
• Edible Fungus
• Zoology
• Great Sea-weed
• Leave Tierra del Fuego
• Climate
• Fruit-trees and Productions of the Southern Coasts
• Height of Snow-line on the Cordillera
• Descent of Glaciers to the Sea
• Icebergs formed
• Transportal of Boulders
• Climate and Productions of the Antarctic Islands
• Preservation of Frozen Carcasses
• Recapitulation
• Valparaiso
• Excursion to the Foot of the Andes
• Structure of the Land
• Ascend the Bell of Quillota
• Shattered Masses of Greenstone
• Immense Valleys
• Mines
• State of Miners
• Santiago
• Hot-baths of Cauquenes
• Gold-mines
• Grinding-mills
• Perforated Stones
• Habits of the Puma
• El Turco and Tapacolo
• Humming-birds
• Chiloe
• General Aspect
• Boat Excursion
• Native Indians
• Castro
• Tame Fox
• Ascend San Pedro
• Chonos Archipelago
• Peninsula of Tres Montes
• Granitic Range
• Boat-wrecked Sailors
• Low's Harbour
• Wild Potato
• Formation of Peat
• Myopotamus, Otter and Mice
• Cheucau and Barking-bird
• Opetiorhynchus
• Singular Character of Ornithology
• Petrels
• San Carlos, Chiloe
• Osorno in Eruption, contemporaneously with Aconcagua and Coseguina
• Ride to Cucao
• Impenetrable Forests
• Valdivia
• Indians
• Earthquake
• Concepcion
• Great Earthquake
• Rocks fissured
• Appearance of the former Towns
• The Sea Black and Boiling
• Direction of the Vibrations
• Stones twisted round
• Great Wave
• Permanent Elevation of the Land
• Area of Volcanic Phenomena
• The connection between the Elevatory and Eruptive Forces
• Causes of earthquakes
• Slow Elevation of Mountain-chains
• Valparaiso
• Portilla Pass
• Sagacity of Mules
• Mountain-torrents
• Mines, how discovered
• Proofs of the gradual Elevation of the Cordillera
• Effect of Snow on Rocks
• Geological Structure of the two main Ranges
• Their distinct Origin and Upheaval
• Great subsidence
• Red Snow
• Winds
• Pinnacles of Snow
• Dry and clear Atmosphere
• Electricity
• Pampas
• Zoology of the opposite Sides of the Andes
• Locusts
• Great Bugs
• Mendoza
• Uspallata Pass
• Silicified trees buried as they grew
• Incas Bridge
• Badness of the Passes exaggerated
• Cumbre
• Casuchas
• Valparaiso
• Coast-road to Coquimbo
• Great Loads carried by the Miners
• Coquimbo
• Earthquake
• Step-formed Terraces
• Absence of recent Deposits
• Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary Formations
• Excursion up the Valley
• Road to Guasco
• Deserts
• Valley of Copiapo
• Rain and Earthquakes
• Hydrophobia
• The Despoblado
• Indian Ruins
• Probable change of Climate
• River-bed arched by an Earthquake
• Cold Gales of Wind
• Noises from a Hill
• Iquique
• Salt Alluvium
• Nitrate of Soda
• Lima
• Unhealthy Country
• Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an Earthquake
• Recent subsidence
• Elevated Shells on San Lorenzo, their decomposition
• Plain with embedded Shells and fragments of Pottery
• Antiquity of the Indian Race
• Galapagos Archipelago
• The whole Group Volcanic
• Number of Craters
• Leafless Bushes
• Colony at Charles Island
• James Island
• Salt-lake in Crater
• Natural History of the Group
• Ornithology, curious Finches
• Reptiles
• Great Tortoises, habits of
• Marine Lizard, feeds on Seaweed
• Terrestrial Lizard, burrowing habits, herbivorous
• Importance of Reptiles in the Archipelago
• Fish, Shells, Insects
• Botany
• American Type of Organization
• Differences in the Species or Races on different Islands
• Tameness of the Birds
• Fear of Man, an acquired Instinct
• Pass through the Low Archipelago
• Tahiti
• Aspect
• Vegetation on the Mountains
• View of Eimeo
• Excursion into the Interior
• Profound Ravines
• Succession of Waterfalls
• Number of wild useful Plants
• Temperance of the Inhabitants
• Their moral state
• Parliament convened
• New Zealand
• Bay of Islands
• Hippahs
• Excursion to Waimate
• Missionary Establishment
• English Weeds now run wild
• Waiomio
• Funeral of a New Zealand Woman
• Sail for Australia
• Sydney
• Excursion to Bathurst
• Aspect of the Woods
• Party of Natives
• Gradual extinction of the Aborigines
• Infection generated by associated Men in health
• Blue Mountains
• View of the grand gulf-like Valleys
• Their origin and formation
• Bathurst, general civility of the Lower Orders
• State of Society
• Van Diemen's Land
• Hobart Town
• Aborigines all banished
• Mount Wellington
• King George's Sound
• Cheerless Aspect of the Country
• Bald Head, calcareous casts of branches of Trees
• Party of Natives
• Leave Australia
• Keeling Island
• Singular appearance
• Scanty Flora
• Transport of Seeds
• Birds and Insects
• Ebbing and flowing Springs
• Fields of dead Coral
• Stone transported in the roots of Trees
• Great Crab
• Stinging Corals
• Coral-eating Fish
• Coral Formations
• Lagoon Islands, or Atolls
• Depth at which reef-building Corals can live
• Vast Areas interspersed with low Coral Islands
• Subsidence of their foundations
• Barrier Reefs
• Fringing Reefs
• Conversion of Fringing Reefs into Barrier Reefs, and into Atolls
• Evidence of changes in Level
• Breaches in Barrier Reefs
• Maldiva Atolls; their peculiar structure
• Dead and submerged Reefs
• Areas of subsidence and elevation
• Distribution of Volcanoes
• Subsidence slow, and vast in amount
• Mauritius, beautiful appearance of
• Great crateriform ring of Mountains
• Hindoos
• St. Helena
• History of the changes in the Vegetation
• Cause of the extinction of Land-shells
• Ascension
• Variation in the imported Rats
• Volcanic Bombs
• Beds of Infusoria
• Bahia
• Brazil
• Splendour of Tropical Scenery
• Pernambuco
• Singular Reef
• Slavery
• Return to England
• Retrospect on our Voyage
• Index

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

Chapter 1 St. Jago-Cape de Verd Islands Porto Praya-Ribeira Grande-Atmospheric Dust with Infusoria-Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish-St. Paul's Rocks, non-volcanic-Singular Incrustations-Insects the first Colonists of Islands-Fernando Noronha-Bahia-Burnished Rocks-Habits of a Diodon-Pelagic Confervæ and Infusoria-Causes of discoloured Sea. After having been twice driven back by heavy southwestern gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, R. N., sailed from Devonport on the 27th of December, 1831. The object of the expedition was to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King in 1826 to 1830-to survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and of some islands in the Pacific-and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the World. On the 6th of January we reached Teneriffe, but were prevented landing, by fears of our bringing the cholera: the next morning we saw the sun rise behind the rugged outline of the Grand Canary island, and suddenly illuminate the Peak of Teneriffe, whilst the lower parts were veiled in fleecy clouds. This was the first of many delightful days never to be forgotten. On the 16th of January, 1832, we anchored at Porto Praya, in St. Jago, the chief island of the Cape de Verd archipelago. The neighbourhood of Porto Praya, viewed from the sea, wears a desolate aspect. The volcanic fires of a past age, and the scorching heat of a tropical sun, have in most places rendered the soil unfit for vegetation. The country rises in successive steps of table-land, interspersed with some truncate conical hills, and the horizon is bounded by an irregular chain of more lofty mountains. The scene, as beheld through the hazy atmosphere of this climate, is one of great interest; if, indeed, a person, fresh from sea, and who has just walked, for the first time, in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, can be a judge of anything but his own happiness. The island would generally be considered as very uninteresting; but to anyone accustomed only to an English landscape, the novel aspect of an utterly sterile land possesses a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil. A single green leaf can scarcely be discovered over wide tracts of the lava plains; yet flocks of goats, together with a few cows, contrive to exist. It rains very seldom, but during a short portion of the year heavy torrents fall, and immediately afterwards a light vegetation springs out of every crevice. This soon withers; and upon such naturally formed hay the animals live. It had not now rained for an entire year. When the island was discovered, the immediate neighbourhood of Porto Praya was clothed with 'rees,1 the reckless destruction of which has caused here, as at St. Helena, and at some of the Canary islands, almost entire sterility. The broad, flat-bottomed valleys, many of which serve during a few days only in the season as water-courses, are clothed with thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures inhabit these valleys. The commonest bird is a kingfisher (Dacelo Iagoensis), which tamely sits on the branches of the castor-oil plant, and thence darts on grasshoppers and lizards. It is brightly coloured, but not so beautiful as the European species: in its flight, manners, and place of habitation, which is generally in the driest valley, there is also a wide difference. One day, two of the officers and myself rode to Ribeira Grande, a village a few miles eastward of Porto Praya. Until we reached the valley of St. Martin, the country presented its usual dull brown appearance; but here, a very small rill of water produces a most refreshing margin of luxuriant vegetation. In the course of an hour we arrived at Ribeira Grande, and were surprised at the sight of a large ruined fort and cathedral. This little town, before its harbour was filled up, was the principal place in the island: it now presents a melancholy, but very picturesque appearance. Having procured a black Padre for a guide, and a Spaniard who had served in the Peninsular war as an interpreter, we visited a collection of buildings, of which an ancient church formed the principal part. It is here the governors and captain-generals of the islands have been buried. Some of the tombstones recorded dates of the sixteenth century.2 The heraldic ornaments were the only things in this retired place that reminded us of Europe. The church or chapel formed one side of a quadrangle, in the middle of which a large clump of bananas were growing. On another side was a hospital, containing about a dozen miserable-looking inmates. We returned to the Vênda to eat our dinners. A considerable number of men, women, and children, all as black as jet, collected to watch us. Our companions were extremely merry; and everything we said or did was followed by their hearty laughter. Before leaving the town we visited the cathedral. It does not appear so rich as the smaller church, but boasts of a little organ, which sent forth singularly inharmonious cries. We presented the black priest with a few shillings, and the Spaniard, patting him on the head, said, with much candour, he thought his colour made no great difference. We then returned, as fast as the ponies would go, to Porto Praya. Another day we rode to the village of St. Domingo, situated near the centre of the island. On a small plain which we crossed, a few stunted acacias were growing; their tops had been bent by the steady trade-wind, in a singular manner-some of them even at right angles to their trunks. The direction of the branches was exactly N. E. by N., and S. W. by S., and these natural vanes must indicate the prevailing direction of the force of the trade-wind. The travelling had made so little impression on the barren soil, that we here missed our track, and took that to Fuentes. This we did not find out till we arrived there; and we were afterwards glad of our mistake. Fuentes is a pretty village, with a small stream, and everything appeared to prosper well, excepting, indeed, that which ought to do so most-its inhabitants. The black children, completely naked, and looking very wretched, were carrying bundles of firewood half as big as their own bodies. Near Fuentes we saw a large flock of guinea-fowl-probably fifty or sixty in number. They were extremely wary, and could not be approached. They avoided us, like partridges on a rainy day in September, running with their heads cocked up; and if pursued, they readily took to the wing. The scenery of St. Domingo possesses a beauty totally unexpected, from the prevalent gloomy character of the rest of the island. The village is situated at the bottom of a valley, bounded by lofty and jagged walls of stratified lava. The black rocks afford a most striking contrast with the bright green vegetation, which follows the banks of a little stream of clear water. It happened to be a grand feast-day, and the village was full of people. On our return we overtook a party of about twenty young black girls, dressed in excellent taste; their black skins and snow-white linen being set off by coloured turbans and large shawls. As soon as we approached near, they suddenly all turned round, and covering the path with their shawls, sung with great energy a wild song, beating time with their hands upon their legs. We threw them some vintéms, which were received with screams of laughter, and we left them redoubling the noise of their song. One morning the view was singularly clear; the distant mountains being projected with the sharpest outline on a heavy bank of dark blue clouds. Judging from the appearance, and from similar cases in England, I supposed that the air was saturated with moisture. The fact, however, turned out quite the contrary. The hygrometer gave a difference of 29.6 degrees, between the temperature of the air, and the point at which dew was precipitated. This difference was nearly double that which I had observed on the previous mornings. This unusual degree of atmospheric dryness was accompanied by continual flashes of lightning. Is it not an uncommon case, thus to find a remarkable degree of aerial transparency with such a state of weather? Generally the atmosphere is hazy; and this is caused by the falling of impalpably fine dust, which was found to have slightly injured the astronomical instruments. The morning before we anchored at Porto Praya, I collected a little packet of this brown-coloured fine dust, which appeared to have been filtered from the wind by the gauze of the vane at the masthead. Mr. Lyell has also given me four packets of dust which fell on a vessel a few hundred miles northward of these islands. Professor Ehrenberg3 finds that this dust consists in great part of infusoria with siliceous shields, and of the siliceous tissue of plants. In five little packets which I sent him, he has ascertained no less than sixty-seven different organic forms! The infusoria, with the exception of two marine species, are all inhabitants of fresh-water. I have found no less than fifteen different accounts of dust having fallen on vessels when far out in the Atlantic. From the direction of the wind whenever it has fallen, and from its having always fallen during those months when the harmattan is known to raise clouds of dust high into the atmosphere, we may feel sure that it all comes from Africa. It is, however, a very singular fact, that, although Professor Ehrenberg knows many species of infusoria peculiar to Africa, he finds none of these in the dust which I sent him. On the other hand, he finds in it two species which hitherto he knows as living only in South America. The dust falls in such quantities as to dirty everything on board, and to hurt people's eyes; vessels even have run on shore owing to the obscurity of the atmosphere. It has often fallen on ships when several hundred, and even more than a thousand miles from the coast of Africa, and at points sixteen hundred miles distant in a north and south direction. In some dust which was collected on a vessel three hundred miles from the land, I was much surprised to find particles of stone above the thousandth of an inch square, mixed with finer matter. After this fact one need not be surprised at the diffusion of the far lighter and smaller sporules of cryptogamic plants. The geology of this island is the most interesting part of its natural history. On entering the harbour, a perfectly horizontal white band, in the face of the sea cliff, may be seen running for some miles along the coast, and at the height of about forty-five feet above the water. Upon examination, this white stratum is found to consist of calcareous matter, with numerous shells embedded, most or all of which now exist on the neighbouring coast. It rests on ancient volcanic rocks, and has been covered by a stream of basalt, which must have entered the sea when the white shelly bed was lying at the bottom. It is interesting to trace the changes, produced by the heat of the overlying lava, on the friable mass, which in parts has been converted into a crystalline limestone, and in other parts into a compact spotted stone. Where the lime has been caught up by the scoriaceous fragments of the lower surface of the stream, it is converted into groups of beautifully radiated fibres resembling arragonite. The beds of lava rise in successive gently-sloping plains, towards the interior, whence the deluges of melted stone have originally proceeded. Within historical times, no signs of volcanic activity have, I believe, been manifested in any part of St. Jago. Even the form of a crater can but rarely be discovered on the summits of the many red cindery hills; yet the more recent streams can be distinguished on the coast, forming lines of cliffs of less height, but stretching out in advance of those belonging to an older series: the height of the cliffs thus affording a rude measure of the age of the streams. During our stay, I observed the habits of some marine animals. A large Aplysia is very common. This sea-slug is about five inches long; and is of a dirty yellowish colour, veined with purple. On each side of the lower surface, or foot, there is a broad membrane, which appears sometimes to act as a ventilator, in causing a current of water to flow over the dorsal branchiæ or lungs. It feeds on the delicate sea-weeds which grow among the stones in muddy and shallow water; and I found in its stomach several small pebbles, as in the gizzard of a bird. This slug, when disturbed, emits a very fine purplish-red fluid, which stains the water for the space of a foot around. Besides this means of defence, an acrid secretion, which is spread over its body, causes a sharp, stinging sensation, similar to that produced by the Physalia, or Portuguese man-of-war. I was much interested, on several occasions, by watching the habits of an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common in the pools of water left by the retiring tide, these animals were not easily caught. By means of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very narrow crevices; and when thus fixed, it required great force to remove them. At other times they darted tail first, with the rapidity of an arrow, from one side of the pool to the other, at the same instant discolouring the water with a dark chestnut-brown ink. These animals also escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon-like power of changing their colour. They appear to vary their tints according to the nature of the ground over which they pass: when in deep water, their general shade was brownish purple, but when placed on the land, or in shallow water, this dark tint changed into one of a yellowish green. The colour, examined more carefully, was a French grey, with numerous minute spots of bright yellow: the former of these varied in intensity; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared again by turns. These changes were effected in such a manner, that clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut-brown,4 were continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected to a slight shock of galvanism, became almost black: a similar effect, but in a less degree, was produced by scratching the skin with a needle. These clouds, or blushes as they may be called, are said to be produced by the alternate expansion and contraction of minute vesicles containing variously coloured fluids.5 Excerpted from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This precursor to On the Origin of Species is a fascinating work on its own merits. Originally published in 1839 and alternately known as Journal and Remarks and Journal of Researches, it documents Darwin's second survey expedition aboard the H.M.S. Beagle and provides a more personal view of Darwin than do his later works. The selections chosen for this abridgment by Isabel Morgan-with Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), who also narrates-relate more to people and cultures than to species, which will surprise many listeners. Dawkins reads in a manner pleasing to the ear and suitable to the subject matter. Coming on the heels of the 2009 bicentennial celebration of Darwin's birth (see "Charles Darwin at 200," LJ 12/08), this title is highly recommended for those libraries not already owning a copy. [An alternate, unabridged recording, read by David Case, is available from Tantor Audio.-Ed.]-Gloria Maxwell, Metropolitan Community Coll.-Penn Valley Lib., Kansas City, MO (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Charles Robert Darwin, born in 1809, was an English naturalist who founded the theory of Darwinism, the belief in evolution as determined by natural selection. Although Darwin studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and then studied at Cambridge University to become a minister, he had been interested in natural history all his life. His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a noted English poet, physician, and botanist who was interested in evolutionary development.

Darwin's works have had an incalculable effect on all aspects of the modern thought. Darwin's most famous and influential work, On the Origin of Species, provoked immediate controversy.

Darwin's other books include Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex.

Charles Darwin died in 1882.

(Bowker Author Biography)