FitzRoy's foxes and Darwin's finches

Abstract

There has been much speculation whether the development of Charles Darwin's ideas about the origin of species was influenced by the Captain of H.M.S. Beagle, Robert FitzRoy, who was both a scientist and religious fundamentalist. There is little evidence that FitzRoy ever had much influence on Darwin's ideas about the animals usually identified as the source of his views on the Galapagos, however. Little attention has been paid to the presence, at the end of the passage where Darwin first comments on their variation, of a reference to the occurrence of a similar phenomenon in the Falkland Fox Dusicyon australis, although the crew of the Beagle first encountered the fox two and a half years earlier. On examining their reports on the Falklands, which appears to be the first place where they had much time to study the animals of islands, it seems that initially it was FitzRoy who paid most attention to the fox, and speculated about its origin and variation. He commented on the similarity of the latter to that found in domestic animals, whereas Darwin thought it provided evidence for a “centre of creation” and questioned if it varied. The Falklands may also be one of the first places where Darwin encountered the co-existence of sibling species of finch.