24/6/65
Dear & venerable Sir William.
Through the disaster, which befel the steamer Bombay possibly one set of my letters to you has been lost & certainly I shall be prevented (as the substituted steamer Salsette cannot be here before the 26) to respond to any communications of yours unless his Excellency commands the delay of this months steamer-mail for one day. I will endeavour to recollect what notes I sent to you by the Bombay & try to restore them. It would be dreadful if the poor crew had lost their lifes. 1
The new number of the Fragmenta has not been completed for this mail, but will appear next week, so still in June & bring additionally several [Filic] 2 a few monocotyledonous plants. Prof Oliver will be interested in examining the fruit of Nuytsia ligustrina. Externally it is very different to that of N. floribunda & if the ruminate albumen really can be relied on for discriminating certain Arabiceae generically we have to apply with equal force the same character to the allied Loranthaceae. Having sent all my Loranthaceae to Bentham 3 I could not reexamine the fruit of Nuytsia floribunda, but possibly I shall receive some for that purpose by the incoming mail.
Pray inform Mr Bentham that the draft of £100 - - (clear of agio) 4 has been placed at his disposal at the Colony's Agent, from whom he will receive it at a moments notice. I am so informed by the Ministerium of finances.
Having had the heavy seasons work to attend to in laying out extensive new avenue lines, pine plantations in the Gov. House reserve (where I have now established 12,000 pines!) and further having been obliged to devote a share of my time to aid the Ladies 5 in their arrangements for Leichhardts search, I could not well work up many plants of late. But for the time withdrawn, even if it was not so well spent as it is in promoting a holy cause, we shall be recompensed by the new collections to be made, Dr Murray a companion of Howitt, joining the party as physician & naturalist. He is a promising, thoughtful & accomplished man.
The party will be finally organized next week & then proceed. The Ladies have exerted themselfes to their utmost, have some aid received from the Governments of Queensland, South Australia & Victoria & trust for the rest of the means needed to their highminded sisters in Europe and to future exertions. They have raised in Victoria within the last months nearly a thousand pounds by private subscriptions
But I have not time to say any thing more on this great object. Sir Roderick Murchison will hear more fully of 6 me, it concerning more geography than phytology. 7
It will interest you that Ochnaceae are at last found in Australia. 8 We shall gain many new orders & especially Indian Genera yet from N.E. Australia & I trust to render therewith the 5th vol of the Fragmenta especially interesting.
Case N. 26 has gone to you pr Sussex early this month. It contains supplemental material for Bentham's 3 volume. 9 Surely the Compositae must be retained for the 4th Is it not interesting that we got Aleurites now also from Australia? The fruit has been wrongly described by all authors. It is quite a dry capsule. The Case pr "Holmstall" has safely arrived with the Chamaelaucieae & remaining ferns.
The donation of the excellent Indian & Japanese plants comes most welcome & renders me joyful & grateful. I am so anxious to add as much as I can of Indian plants to my collections, so that for many years to come critical comparisons of tropical Asiatic & tropical Australian plants may be instituted. Accept than 10 my grateful acknowledgement for this new gift. The Lichens from the Rev. Mr Leighton are also a splendid addition to my comparatively scanty collection of these plants. As I cannot well reciprocate in kinds I will send the Rev Gentleman mainly Algae in exchange. I must furnish some habitats on Myrtaceae & other Calyciflorae to Mr Bentham but cannot possibly do so by this mail. Much thereon might be learnt from my manuscripts at Kew.
His Excellency allowed me to forward in the despatch bag the new volume of our R.S. to you. Will you kindly transmit the added volumes? Could you not induce some physiologist to examine the Eucalyptus & Melaleuca timber at Kew & to furnish notes on these specimens to be incorporated into the 3 vol. of the Austral flora? Such notes would enhance much the essay to be offered in the volume on Eucalyptus & needed to be concise.
Allow me to co[ntinu]e your
attached friend
Ferd. Mueller.
I am missing the Mollugineae, once transmitted. Are they still at
Kew? 11
Aleurites
Arabiceae
Calyciflorae
Chamaelaucieae
Compositae
Eucalyptus
Loranthaceae
Melaleuca
Mollugineae
Myrtaceae
Nuytsia floribunda
Nuytsia ligustrina
Ochnacea
Please cite as “FVM-65-06-24,” 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 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/65-06-24