8o AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



in 1 839 as part of Fitz- Roy's work. The success of this 

 my first literary child always tickles my vanity more 

 than that of any of my other books. Even to this day 

 it sells steadily in England and the United States, and 

 has been translated for the second time into German, 

 and into French and other languages. This success 

 of a book of travels, especially of a scientific one, so 

 many years after its first publication, is surprising. 

 Ten thousand copies have been sold in England of 

 the second edition. In 1846 my 'Geological Obser- 

 vations on South America ' were published. I record 

 in a little diary, which I have always kept, that my 

 three geological books (' Coral Reefs ' included) con- 

 sumed four and a half years' steady work ; " and now 

 it is ten years since my return to England. How 

 much time have I lost by illness ? " I have nothing 

 to say about these three books except that to my 

 surprise new editions have lately been called for.* 



In October, 1846, I began to work on ' Cirripedia/ 

 When on the coast of Chile, I found a most curious 

 form, which burrowed into the shells of Concholepas, 

 and which differed so much from all other Cirripedes 

 that I had to form a new sub-order for its sole recep- 

 tion. Lately an allied burrowing genus has been found 

 on the shores of Portugal. To understand the struc- 

 ture of my new Cirripede I had to examine and dissect 

 many of the common forms ; and this gradually led 

 me on to take up the whole group. I worked steadily 

 on this subject for the next eight years, and ultimately 



* ' Geological Observations,' 2nd Edit. 1876. Coral Reefs,' 2nd Edit. 

 1874. 



