13 December 1861
My dear Dr Mueller.
The little water hen which you sent me this morning (and which I hope has safely reached you again) which flew on board the ship Clutha,1 is Porphyrio Martinica a bird common in all the warmer parts of Central and South America and the West Indian Islands. It is easily kept in confinement on bread rice &c and a little chopped meat occasionally
Ever &c
F. McC.
I enclose a form of account for the corals and sponges for which I must ask you to have the price entered if you would be so kind, as I could not fix it myself: they are neither rare nor very good, but we require examples from N. E. Australia such as Mr. Fitzalan's2
Clutha had arrived from London on 30 September 1861 and, after discharging cargo at Hobson's Bay (Melbourne), moved to Geelong on 14 October to load wool before sailing for London on 18 November 1861.
Eugene Fitzalan had moved to Qld from Geelong in 1860 and was a pioneer settler of Bowen in 1861; he had previusly collected for M in Tasmania in 1854 (Dowe and Nelson (2015), pp. 800-01).
Letter not found; item is a file copy.
Please cite as “FVM-61-12-13,” 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