12/8/93.
It is most edifying, dear Sir James, to watch the progress of science in N. Z. under your aegis, as evinced now again by the new entomologic volumes for the sending of which my best thanks are due to you. The Endemism of organic life in your islands is well known, yet when such a list of Coleopters is placed before us as Capt Broun's,1 we must be still more startled. How enveyable to workers in any biologic speciality there!, compared to extremely difficult task anywhere else, to make sure, that any new form in the Fauna or Flora may not be actually new to knowledge but only so geographically.
Lately — for instance — I gave statistics of Australian plants up to date in "Le Monde des plantes"2 This brings the number of truly indigenous plants of continental Australia and Tasmania to 9021. Of these 1433 extend as natives to other countries, and thus 350 to N. Z.
With regardful remembrance
your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Please cite as “FVM-93-08-12,” 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