This film was part of our ‘Mr. Darwin’s Fishes’ exhibition and features type specimens from the collection of the Natural History Museum in London, collected by Charles Darwin on his voyage aboard HMS Beagle and described by his lifelong friend Leonard Jenyns. The script is made up from extracts from Darwin’s notebooks and letters, and Jenyns’ book ‘The Fishes of the Voyage of the Beagle’. ‘Mr. Darwin’s Fishes’ was shown in 2009 as part of BRLSI’s ‘Darwin and Beyond’ programme, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species (24 November 1859) and the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth (12 February 1809). You can see an online version of the ‘Mr. Darwin’s Fishes’ exhibition here: Leonard Jenyns, who later in his life settled in Bath and was intimately connected with BRLSI, was invited to undertake the voyage aboard HMS Beagle prior to Charles Darwin. Jenyns reluctantly refused the opportunity and the rest is history! Darwin collected numerous fish specimens on his voyage aboard HMS Beagle and on his return they were described by his lifelong friend, Jenyns.

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