8/8/82.
I write this two hours after midnight, dear Prof Tate, so I shall not be very diffuse. It will afford me great pleasure to be one of your sponsors at the R.S.1 this or any other year. You well deserve that distinction. I was not aware that Prof. Liversidge was also a competitor just now. Is it really so? I should almost have thought he would have asked for my support, as I am with him on terms of friendship.2
Mr Oliver writes me that his plants are collected from one mile W. of Eucla3 to 40 miles W. I believe that the Swainsona has a wide range over the limestone country,4 but I shall learn more about that in my next letter from him.
I have been so harrassed with work in the Department, that with the best will I could not attend to everything just now, but will send the Tatea back in a day or two or a drawing
I am grateful for your geologic remarks concerning Eucla, which give me a better insight into the geography of the plants there.
With regardful remembrance
your
Ferd von Mueller.
Swainsona
Tatea
Royal Society [of London].
Archibald Liversidge was first nominated for the Royal Society in 1880, and was elected in 1882. There were no Australian signatories to his nomination certificate; his candidature was organized entirely in England. Tate was first nominated in 1884 with M as his primary sponsor, his candidature continuing, always unsuccessfully, until 1886. There were some British signatories on his nomination certificate, but most were from Australia and New Zealand. See M to R. Tate, 7 October 1882.
SA.
Swainsona oliveri, described as S. oliverii in B82.07.04, p. 152. A herbarium sheet carrying a specimen of Swainsona oliveri (MEL 679194) also has attached to it a small sheet, probably the address panel of a package or envelope, with the text:
Eucla 2/6 – 1882
From Mr John Oliver
To Baron Ferd Von Mueller
Melbourne
Victoria
The sheet also has M's label, 'Swainsona oliverii | F.v. M. | Near Eucla | Ped. 1-2 fl.'
Please cite as “FVM-82-08-08a,” 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