To George Bentham   24 September 1863

Melbourne bot. Garden

24¹/9/63

Dear Mr Bentham.

I have just shipped case N. 18 pr. Norfolk, whereby the material for vol. II² passes now completely into your hands. The consignment brings also some supplements of select plants to former sendings, which no doubt you like to consult for an appendix to vol. II. Should you however not care to see specimens supplementing the notes on localities &c, pray let me know & I will keep them back in future.

Had I not thought, that it would be more satisfactory to you to look on such specimens yourself, I should have drawn up the supplemental notes from them. Let me know, how you wish this to be arranged in future. If I give for instance new localities of aVitis or a Tribulus or whatever it may be, perhaps you trust to my correctness & render the risk of sending the specimens themselves all the way unnecessary.

I shall soon set to work to elaborate for the "plants of Victoria" the Myrtaceae, as I wish to avoid sending anything, that has not been entered into the Vict. flora, so as to run not unnecessary risk. I really do not know what I have to do, should for instance the fine set of Halorageae, Papilionaceae &c, now entrusted to the waves become lost, for I could never replace the material for the flora of Victoria.

I attempted to work up Haloragis,but many unforseen departmental³ duties prevented me from finishing the work, and then rather sent the parcels off, than run the risk of delaying you. As soon as I have them again, I must work them up for my flora.

Should I not have mentioned it before, would you be so kind to cause a copy of your 1 vol.⁴ to be sent to Dr Beckler? He has so largely contributed towards it, that he is particularly interested in it. His adress is Hindelang near Santhofen Bavaria, where he practices his profession.

Amongst Lythraceae you will miss Peplis Portula, which since some years has become common about Port Phillip on periodically inundated meadows. I have neglected to dry specimens & it is not now in flower.

On the 7. of September I shipped cases N. 16 & N. 17 pr. Monarch and on the 19 Aug. Case N. 15. These tree⁵ contained mainly Papilionaceae. Case N. 14 was shipped pr Yorkshire on the 1 Aug with the rest of the Acaciae. I have as yet no knowledge whether Case 13 pr. Roxburgh Castle shipped on the 28 June & Case 12 shipped 8 June have arrived. Both these contained Acaciae. I have no distinct acknowledgement, that the case N. 9. with Extra Victorian genera of Leguminosae arrived. It was shipped pr. Suffolk on the 20 January under bill of loading & contained 21 fascicles. Pray let me know. The following Case N. 10 arrived & so N. 11 according to your letter, but I have, as I say, no acknowledgement of the arrival of Case 9, and feel therefore uneasy about it.

It also but right that I should remark, whilst I acknowledge the return of the 4 cases pr "Prince of Wales" that the soldering was very uncompletely effected, there being wide chasms left in the seams. Fortunately the cases stood dry & suffered thus no damage. Mr Pamplin had once a large case with books soldered in a similarly ineffectual manner & as it stood under drippage my foliants arrived in a state of paste!

Should the Kew collection have duplicates of Eremosyne pertinata, I would be glad of one, as the genus is not represented in our collection. From Endlichers figure⁶ it must be very near Bauera. I believe the plant is like Bauera sessiliflora extremely rare & local. You have now⁷ 165 fascicles for vol. II & there will be coming yet some supplemental fascicles. In the last case is a fascicle of ferns for Sir Will. Hooker's perusal. I would also mention, that it will not be good to quote Leichhardts collection as part of my herbarium, for altho' you placed in the preface the parts of it belonging to the Sydney Museum before the public, yet the Trustees might take umbrage at any thing that might convey an other expression. I find that Haloragis filifolia AsGray⁸ is only a form o[f] H. heterophylla. Poor Mr Woolls lost his only surviving Daughter within the last days, an other most accomplished & upgrowing daughter of his died about 2 years ago.⁹ He has been one of the most zealous & generous contributors to my herbarium & would have done wonders had he been ever residing in a botanically unexplored district.

Ever yours

Ferd Mueller

Acacia

Bauera sessiliflora

Eremosyne pertinata

Halorageae

Haloragis filifolia

Haloragis heterophylla

Leguminosae

Lythraceae

Myrtaceae

Papilionaceae

Peplis Portula

Tribulus

Vitis