20/5/65
I accept, dear Mr Gunn, your kind offer of the Thylacine.1 Would it be desirable to separate the little canine family? These animals are much needed in any zoological collection, & hence I should be grateful for them. I have sent you by this steamer a collection of young pine-plants & oaks which I trust will prove acceptable. If you require more, pray let me know & I will gladly send them.
Has poor Dr Grant recovered from his severe accident?2
Believe me to remain with cordiality your
Ferd Mueller
Gunn sent four Thylacines, according to Paddle (1896), a mother and three young. M proposed to send them to the Jardin des plantes, Paris, but not until warmer weather arrived (M to R. Gunn, 16 June 1865; see also M to R, Gunn, 2 July 1865). M had evidently previously sent a specimen, for which he was thanked in Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, to M, 30 June 1864 (in this edition as 64-06-30a). The fate of the present four animals has not been determined. No living Thylacines are listed in the donations lists reported in the Bulletin de la Société impériale zoologique d'acclimatation, series 2, vol. 2 (1865), pp. 751-3, or series 2, vol. 3 (1866), pp. 699-701). They are not mentioned n Paddle (2000), Holmes & Linnard (2023) or Ashby (2022).
James Grant, a Launceston surgeon, severely fractured his skull in a riding accident in December 1864. He survived but progressively lost his sight (Cornwall chronicle (Launceston, Tas), 28 October 1865, p. 4).
Please cite as “FVM-65-05-20,” 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