Fish exhibition opens at brlsi

From this great array of Jenyns material, the BRLSI has created a multi-media exhibition, Mr Darwin's Fishes which will beopened on February 12 in the appropriately named Jenyns Room at16-18 Queen Square.

Many of the fish specimens from the Beagle that Jenyns worked onare preserved in spirits at the Natural History Museum in London andare too frail and precious to make the journey to Bath, but theBRLSI's curator, Matt Williams, and his colleagues Jude Harris andPaul Philip Green have captured them on film.

This audio-visual display, using readings from Darwin's lettersand Jenyns's notes, features Bath actor Paul Humpoletz (whorecently played Churchill in the BBC series Behind Closed Doors) as the voice of Jenyns.

The exhibition will be opened on February 12, the date ofDarwin's 200th birthday, with a 'fishy' cake which has beenspecially commissioned to celebrate this iconic date.

The opening ceremony starts at 7pm followed at 7.30pm by a talkentitled From Darwin's Fishes to Jenyns's Fishes. Ichthyology andthe Voyage of the Beagle, given by Dr Daniel Pauly, Professor ofFisheries at the University of British Columbia.

Dr Pauly is one of the best-known fisheries scientists in theworld and is particularly outspoken about global fishing practice.

The exhibition and talk are part of the Darwin and Beyondprogramme at BRLSI in 2009, featuring a wide-ranging series of talksby outstanding speakers throughout the year.

Full details of the programme are available at www.brlsi.org/darwin2009 or from the BRLSI office at 16-18 Queen Square, Bath.

The BRLSI published a book on Leonard Jenyns in 2005 and this hasnow been reissued under the title Leonard Jenyns - Darwin's LifelongFriend.

The book, which contains Jenyns's autobiography as well as aselection of his essays and letters, is available from the BRLSI.