Melb. Stategarden.
26/3/67.
Private
The enclosed bill of ladings show you, dear Prof. Gray, that again two consignments were despatched by my London Agents.1 I trust they will give pleasure. Your illustrious collegue2 might give perhaps an enumeration of all the fishes I sent. Alcohol being here so expensive I have had outlays over hundred guineas alone for various ichthyologic collections I sent to different Musea, and to my knowledge not a line is any where written on them. I spent in the course of the last 20 years about one thousand pounds Sterling for zoological collections for donations & yet science has scarcely had any benefit of them.3
My Agents in London have defrayed the freight also to Boston. Eucalyptus amygdalina is measured here nearly half a thousand feet high! Can you kindly furnish me some exact data on Sequoia Wellingtonia for the sake of comparison.
This winter I shall be freer for Museum work & I will send you many plants from tropical Australia; perhaps you could give me some Californian from the excellent Prof. Brewer's collection in exchange.
A fish list from Agassiz in all Australian waters would be a boon for local zoology & a basis of operation & encourage us to go on.4
Let me remain with sincerest regards
yr
Ferd. Mueller.
Without wishing to be immodest, pray let me ask what can be done on my part to secure Nelumbium luteum for Australia.
Nelumbium luteum
Eucalyptus amygdalina
Sequoia Wellingtonia
Please cite as “FVM-67-03-26,” 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