To William Hooker   24 February 1864

Melbourne bot. Garden,

24/2/64.

My dear Sir William.

You extended your friendly interest again towards me by honoring me with two letters by last mail.¹ Your communications cause me always the greatest possible joy, unless they convey so mournful information as the last. I have thus with deep sympathy heard of the demise of your dear friend Dr Booth,² whom I hoped on some future visit to Europe to see, entertaining as I do for his valued & disinterested labours a profound respect. But as the time of severest mourning has passed now away, I will not awaken your grief & pass on to your other kind & feeling communications.

It cannot be otherwise, than that I should feel quite ashamed of having given you the trouble to sort my filices, a tax on your precious time I could never possibly have intended. The fact is, that at the moment when the ship "Great Britain" sailed, I was so surrounded by other work, that I could not possibly insert the supplemental filices into the main collection & sent them off as they were lying, trusting to the aid of your assistants to do it. I have further to apologize for having been the cause of so much anxiety to you in reference to my missing Australian Rhizocarpae.³ By an error of an assistant they were mislaid at the time when I thought them despatched, & thus not sent & I was not aware of the circumstance until accidently afterwards they turned up. Such errors will under the best surveillance occasionally occur & must be overlooked.⁴

I hope that your own health remains unimpaired & that you still enjoy pleasure in a moderate devotion of your time to your glorious & marvellous work. What a treasure alone the botanical Magazine contains, the fascicles of which I eagerly receive by every monthly mail. With the transmission of the plate of the Gymnogramme or Grammitis, on which you so kindly bestowed my humble name, you made me very happy indeed.⁵ This plant will be a lasting record of your generosity & friendship towards me.

Mr Dallachy is likely now collecting in the higher ranges & deep jungle ravines in the northern part of Queensland, as far as it can be done, whilst hordes of furious & merciless savages beset every travellers path, as the gradual occupation of the lower grassy country drives the native occupants of the ground back to the strong holds of the mountains, where they exercisetheir revenge for being deprived of their former hunting ground. However as friends of mine, settled in the vicinity of Rockingham Bay,⁶ have taken Mr Dallachy under their protection, he can occasionally accompany armed parties into the ranges & I hope thus to obtain interesting material to finish the 4. vol. of the fragmenta, of which about half is printed. I have lately not much done towards the flora of Victoria as the Leguminosae & Myrtaceae are with Mr Bentham. I am however engaged on Euphorbiaceae, which I shall include amongst Calyciflorae, as so many are decidedly petaliferous. My normal Collection of Australian Euphorbaiceae comprises 18 voluminous fascicles & if Mr Bentham intends not to include this order in Calyciflorae I will render the whole accessible for Alph D.C.⁷

In case it causes any inconvenience whatever at Kew, to forward occasionally the small consignments to other destinations, which I was immodest enough to burden on your department, I beg of you & trust you will frankly & without hesitation tell me so. It is really so tempting to smuggle away in this manner one thing or the other to the Continent,because I am placed in effecting my sendings at very great disadvantage towards my continental friends. Whilst they have frequent direct opportunities of sending by daily ships bringing imports to Victoria, I have never a direct opportunity to effect the sendings to the Continent of Europe or America, simply because Victoria exports only to Britian⁸ & India in the northern hemisphere. I mentioned in a former note, that the species of Isoetes were intended for Durieu de Maisonneuve of Bordeaux for his forthcoming magnific work⁹ & the Marsileae for Alex. Braun, who is desirous to monograph that Genus.¹⁰ Sonder & Decaisne or Brogniart¹¹ would undertake the final transmissions.

Your letter of 3. Dec. 1863 came simultaneously with the other you kindly wrote to me on Christmasday¹² — I was quite distressed, when I heard of the sufferings all your family & even yourself! had to sustain from Scarlatina & that you lost thus a deer grandchild.¹³

May providence grant you & your family now an uninterrupted continuation of health, that is the sincerest wish of your ever gratefully attached

Ferd Mueller

Sir Will. Jacks Hooker,

K.H. &c &c &c

Calyciflorae

Euphorbaiceae

Grammitis

Gymnogramme

Isoetes

Leguminosae

Marsilea

Myrtaceae

Rhizocarpae