WCP5548

Letter (WCP5548.6306)

[1]1

Trinidad

10th August 1877

My dear Sir,

I write to beg your assistance in getting named some specimens I forward by present mail to Sir J[oseph]. D[alton]. Hooker2 & which I so addressed before thinking as I do now, it would have been better to have addressed them to you. If you will kindly

Prof[essor]. W[illiam]. T[urner]. Thiselton-Dyer3

[2] kindly [sic] have the names I have attached sent back with the proper names I shall know the plants they refer to quite well.

I would beg your assistance also for getting forwarded to me Prof[essor] Oliver’s4 Elementary botany for India5: as also some schedule papers for Classes — say 25 of each kind. Any cost I will be very happy to remit [3] so [sic] soon as I learn the amount.

Could you also kindly send me an extract of what what [sic] Masters6 or Wallace7 (or indeed anybody else) have to say about the fruiting of the [1 word illeg.] <peach> palm, Guilielmia speciosa8, [sic] over & above what Seeman9 states in his Pop[ular]. Hist[ory]. of Palms10? Unfortunately I have no other w[or]k on palms besides that & various odd accounts.

I am dear Sir | Yours truly and obliged | H. Prestoe [signature]

P[lease]. T[urn]. O[ver].

[4]11 P[ost]. S[criptum]. I add to the specimen parcel a small packet of coffee leaves affected with a fungoid & lichen growths which are commonly found on similar vegetation in damp places here. I would be very glad to know what they are. I have never studied this class of plants to such an extent as to be able to determine them.

H[enry]. P[restoe].

1
"An[swere]d." is written in pencil across the top LH corner.
2
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer and founder of geographical botany. He succeeded his father William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on his death and held the post for 20 years.
3
Thiselton-Dyer, William Turner (1843-1928). leading British botanist and the third director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
4
Oliver, Daniel (1830-1916) British botanist, keeper of the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Professor of Botany in University College, London.
5
Oliver, D. (1869) First book of Indian Botany London, Macmillan & Co.
6
Masters, Maxwell Tylden (1833-1907). English botanist and taxonomist.
7
Wallace, A. R. (1853) Palm trees of the Amazon and their uses. London, John van Voorst.
8
Guilielma speciosa Mart. (known as the peach palm).
9
Seemann, Berthold Carl (1825-1871). German botanist who travelled widely and collected and described plants from the Pacific and South America.
10
Seeman, B. (1856) A popular history of palms and their allies London, Reeve.
11
The number "498" is stamped vertically at the top of the LH margin.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP5548.6306)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2015-06-18] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-06-18] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Please cite as “WCP5548,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5548