From Robert Johnston1    14 July 1884

2 Davey st Hobart.

14 July 1884

My dear Baron

I send you enclosed two species of Ferns for your examination both of which appear to me to be new to Tasmania. One, the smaller, closely agrees with the description given of Hymenophyllum marginatum. Hook et Grev. Port Jackson, N.S.W. The other is so densely matted with scales that I am not sure of its alliance. They both exist in abundance in the Western region of Tasmania where the rocks are of Silurian age. Locality Honeysuckle Hill. Queeres' River,2 in the vicinity of the Huxley, Tyndall and Owen range of mountains. The Collector, Mr Moore,3 is one of our intelligent Surveyors who is engaged at present in opening up this little known district, and possibly other novelties may soon be placed in your hands. Should one of the ferns be new to science perhaps you will kindly encourage Mr Moore by associating his name with the discovery. You will recollect that our last addition to the ferns of Tasmania was obtained from this same region.

With regard to Baron von Ettingshausen's paper4 on the Tertiary Flora of Tasmania I am pleased to find that the Author has very kindly forwarded a copy to me gratuitously and unsolicited This together with your paper to the Royal Soc of Tas,5 will be of great advantage to me.

You will observe from a paper (advance copy enclosed) that I have discovered and described a new species of Lepidostrobus from our coal measures.6 It is the only complete Strobilus or cone of this fossil genus, so far as I know discovered in the coal measures of Australia — certainly the only one from Tasmania. I have taken the liberty of naming [it]7 after yourself

When the drawing is finished in lithograph I will forward a copy.

Bye the bye, who is Mr Rasmussen who is now in Launceston?8 He has recently come from Queensland and has got himself into bad odour in Launceston by lecturing once or twice on very elementary subjects the greater part of one of them having been plagiarised from various well known authors

Recently he has betrayed much ignorance upon botanical matters, abuses the systematic binominal nomenclature of botanists & otherwise, making a parade of the possession of elementary knowledge in botany.

You will observe I have taken notice of some of his observations in one of the scraps send to you herewith.9 I cannot conceive how anyone who knows the necessity and the value of the existing bi-nominal system of nomenclature could possibly write in the way which Mr Rasmussen does. It is evident to me that he must possess very little knowledge of scientific method. Has he in any material way contributed to the knowledge of Australian Botany as far as you know?

With great regard

believe me

Yours sincerely

Robt M Johnston

 

Baron Ferd. von Mueller, K.C.M.G: M.D: F.R.S. etc etc,

Government Botanist

Melbourne

 

Hymenophyllum marginatum

Lepidostrobus

 
1
MS annotation by M: 'Rec & answ 23/7/84. FvM. 30/7/84, FvM'. Letter not found.
2
Queen River, Tas.?
3
Thomas Bather Moore.
4
Probably Ettingshausen (1883), in which he named and described Alnus muelleri, and which includes a brief section explicitly devoted to the tertiary flora of Tas.
5
B85.13.27.
6
See Johnston (1884), in which Johnston described and named Lepidostrobus Muelleri.
7
editorial addition.
8
Hans Peter Rasmussen (1861-1937) gave lectures in Launceston iin 1884, see, for example, 'The anatomy and physiology of plants', Daily telegraph, (Launceston, Tas.), 10 July 1884, p. 2.
9
Items not found, but see Johnston's letter to the Editor, 'The science of botany in Tasmania', Launceston examiner (Tas.), 11 July 1884, p. 3, commenting on the report of a lecture, 'Botany and forestry of Tasmania' delivered by Rasmussen on 4 July 1884, Launceston examiner, 5 July 1884, p. 2.

Please cite as “FVM-84-07-14,” 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 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/84-07-14