11/5/87.
When last week, dear Mr McKnight, your letter and specimens of fossils arrived,1 I was not quite well; and subsequently I have been so overwhelmed with official obligations in the Department, that I had to set aside less urgent work. Moreover I liked to view carefully the specimens sent me, before I wrote to you. It needs not my assurance, that I should be happy to examine any vegetable fossils obtained by you; — but it could not always be done at once; and for May & June every free hour in any day, and they are always labourious, is engaged for completing the "Key to system of Victorian plants",2 urged by the Field-Naturalists-Club and some others, interested in the native vegetation. It is however but right, that I should mention to you my reluctance to work on any vegetable fossils, unless they are in a fruiting state; the misinterpretation of leaves, wood and other remnants of plants has in many instances been so great, that I am deterred from working on fruitless material. Even one of the most illustrious of European Paleontologists, quite lately described the leaf of a Trapa (a water plant) as that of a Poplar! It will therefore be a question for your consideration, whether the specimens, you so attentively submitted to me, should go to Prof M'Coy, who is a specialist in Palaeontology. As regards your wish, to join the Linnean Society of London, it will afford me much pleasure to propose you. I believe the entrance-fee is now £3 - - and I believe the annual subscription of £4 ‑ became also raised; but I am not sure. Please send me a short memorandum of your position, engagements and also of the investigations, in which you have been occupied for science-purposes, as this needs to be recorded on the paper of your candidature.3
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
I presume you have the two decades of veg. fossils which I elaborated for the geolog. Department here,4 where alone they can be obtained.
Trapa
Please cite as “FVM-87-05-11b,” 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 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/87-05-11b