Melbourne bot & zool Garden,
25. July 1860
Reverend & venerable Sir.
The package of fungi, returned with so valuable notes by you, reached me only 2 weeks after its arrival in Melbourne, being evidently mislaid at the book-office. Hence it arose, that I could not already express to you by the last mail my deep sense of gratitude & my profound acknowledgement of your generosity of having coupled my humble name with yours, on which so long the brightest lustre of fame shed its rays.1 I was in no way entitled to the unexpected honor of becoming a mycologist, altho' I have lately after absolving the investigations into the phanerogamic flora of Australia more and more, given considerable attention to all signs of cryptogamic plants, & shall, if providence grants me life & health, continue to follow up the study.
I hope you will be so kind to draw up the diagnosis for publication in the (transactions or) proceedings of the L.S.2 and if any of the unique specimens you were so disinterested to return, are desired by you, they will at once be returned. Otherwise they will be a valuable addition to our publ. collection.
I trust you will allow me to name some noble tree of Eastern Australia after you and figure it in my Fragmenta, when I by this means take the opportunity of bearing public testimony to the aid I receive in the investigation of Australian plants.3
I received a few fungi from Dr H. Beckler, whom I sent on a botanical mission to the Clarence River.4 I have in the Governors despatchbag sent a few specimens of them to you, indeed one of each species. When closing the letter I find I can press them into an envelope; so they will reach you simultaneously with these lines.
Wishing you long life and constant health for the sake of science & your numerous friends,
I remain, dear and venerable Sir,
your humbly attached
Ferd Mueller
No species jointly named by Berkeley and M validly published by 1860 has been found in the Fungi name index (accessed 2 October 2020). However, in B61.02.01, p. 18, M lists Agaricus sonderi as a species jointly published with Berkeley. A. muelleri is also listed there, each as a name only. These species, presumably included as herbarium names with the specimens, were not published until Berkeley (1873), as A. sonderianus and, presumably although there is no synonym stated, Paxillus muelleri said to have been collected by M at Wilson's Promontary (both p. 159), and M was not then included as one of the authors.
Linnean Society, London.
IPNI (accessed 26 April 2020) does not list any genus or species published by Mueller based on the name Berkeley.
NSW.
MS annotation by Berkeley:
1.
2. Pol. versicolor
3. Ag. aspratus [&] Xylaria phosphorea
4. Ag. scabriusculus B. (pleurotus) [with 10]
5. Lent.
6. Pez. hirneoloides
7. Hern[i] hispidula
8. Ag penetrans
9.
10. Lenzites Beckleri, B
11. Ag [(lep)] Beckleri, B
12. Ster. lobatum
13. Cort. Auberianum
14. Pol. Xanthopus
15. Schiz-commune.
(Blank entries against numbers 1 and 9.)
This list corresponds to the following fungi listed in Berkeley (1873):
Polyporus (Inodermei) versicolor
Agaricus (Lepiota) aspratus
Agaricus ( Pleurotus) scabriusculus
Lentinus
Xylaria phosphorea
Peziza hirneoloides
Agaricus (Pleurotus) penetrans
Hirneola hispidula
Lenzites beckleri
Agaricus (Lepiota) beckleri
Stereum lobatum
Corticum auberianum
Polyporus xanthopus
Schizophyllum commune.
Please cite as “FVM-60-07-25d,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on