To George Bentham    9 August 1868

9/8/68.

 

I was glad to receive, dear Mr Bentham, the 5 first proofsheets of the 4. vol.1 which you so kindly sent, and I look forward with vivid interest to those following. The volume will rather astonish Phytographers, when they contrast its contents with that of RBr. Pr.2 I take the liberty of sending a few annotations, such as on a hurried glance I could make.3 I missed the Summersetshire,4 a fine steamship, by which intended to send another box with material for the 5. vol. But I could not manage it, for the visit of Earl & the Countess Belmore5 gave some additional work irrespective of that of the planting season. Besides I have to draw up a report at some length for the Government and besides just now to share in remodelling the Board of Agriculture.6 Among other plants ready to be despatched at an early date is a package of Euphorbiaceae, supplemental to the large sending, containing several species at least new to Australia, which I leave undescribed. Before Christmas all Monochlamydeae will be sent off

With best regards

Ferd von Mueller.

It might be best perhaps to place my Lichens at the disposal of von Krempelhuber in Munich, in as much as Dr Sonder just writes,7 that he has sent my original collection likewise already to that [observer]8

 

Euphorbiaceae

Monochlamydeae

1
i.e. pp 1-80 of Bentham (1863-78), vol. 4; see G. Bentham to M, 18 June 1868 (in this volume as 68-06-18c).
2
Brown (1810).
3
List of annotations not found.
4
Somersetshire?
5
Belmore, Governor of New South Wales, and his wife visited Victoria from 27 July to 5 August 1868, arriving in Melbourne after a tour of some country areas. The visit included a visit to the Acclimatisation Society's gardens at Royal Park; presumably M, as secretary to the trustees of the park, was involved in the arrangements although he was not present for the visit, attending a meeting of the Council of the Society instead ( Argus , 28 July to 6 August 1868, passim ).
6
See M to J. Grant, 27 August 1868, and Argus, 28 August 1868, p. 7.
7
Letter not found.
8
There is a blank page after the valediction. The post-script is the only text on f. 342. The folio may not belong to this letter, and may not have been addressed to Bentham. It is annotated in pencil 'August 1868', but this would almost certainly have been added when the letters were being sorted for binding. Reference to Krempelhuber receiving lichens appears in a number of surviving letters, commencing with M to C. von Martius, 22 May 1868; in the Kew archives, the first mention is in M to J. Hooker, 14 July 1868. The fragment is placed here as it is his first letter to Bentham after M sent his collection of lichens per Anglesey on 7 July 1868 (Notebook recording despatch of plants for Flora Australiensis, RB, MSS, M44, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne)

Please cite as “FVM-68-08-09,” 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 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/68-08-09