Richmond1
May1881
My dear Baron,
I am sending you by this post a small collection of mosses, which I found amongst my specimens. Mr Oldfield's are principally from Tasmania but Herriott's & mine are from New South Wales. These mosses are of little use to me, & they may add to your cryptogams.
Mrs Forde, as you will see by the accompanying letter,2 is willing to part with her collection, but being in bad circumstances, she would like to have some consideration. I recommended her to send the specimens & leave that matter to your generosity.
I send you a fragment of Dampiera, which is certainly a small form of D. stricta. You will see how different it is from that with whorled leaves. Miss Scott3 was particularly struck with the difference when drawing them.
I also send a fragment of Goodenia heterophylla in a monstrous state. This came from Manly Beach4
Mr. Fitzgerald paid me a visit a few days since on his way to Mt. Tomah. I took him for a drive in the hope of finding some orchids for him, but we saw only Pterostylis obtusa. He does5 know whether he will get leave to go to W. Aust.
With kind regards
Yours very sincerely
W. Woolls
Baron Mueller
Melbourne
Dampiera stricta
Goodenia heterophylla
Pterostylis obtusa
NSW.
Letter not found.
Harriet Scott.
NSW.
Robert Fitzgerald; not omitted?
Fitgerald 'made a special journey to South Australia and Western Australia ... and succeeded in obtaining ... nineteen new species' (Fitzgerald (1882), p. 461). He left Sydney for King George Sound on 29 June 1881 (Sydney mail and New South Wales advertiser, 2 July 1881, p. 37), arriving on 11 July 1881 (West Australian, 12 July, 1881, p. 1). He left Albany on 24 October and returned to Sydney on 4 November 1881 (Sydney morning herald, 5 November 1881, p. 4). He travelled as far north as Geraldton; see notes to M to R. Fitzgerald, 6 October 1887.
Ms found with a specimen of Dampiera stricta (MEL 2190953). MS annotation by M: 'Answ 7/5/81'. Letter not found.
Please cite as “FVM-81-05-00a,” 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