Ferdinand von Mueller

21/10/85.

It has been a long time, dear Mr Carruthers, since I wrote to you, but as we are both labouriously engaged in our respective positions, neither of us will have much spare-time, and so you will kindly overlook it, when I did not show you all the attention, which you might fairly claim. Indeed I have still to redeem largely a promise, to contribute to your Museum-collections; but really the extrawork within the last few years has been so great for the successive Exhibitions abroad, and here,

1

See M to W. Carruthers, 27 August 1883.

for local new rural industries &c, that I often wished the day had 48 instead of 24 hours, to do justice to all that I would like to do!

I hope however to be somewhat freer in 1886, as the Eucalyptography

2

B84.11.02, the final decade of Eucalyptographia, including the indexes, title page &c of the whole work, bears a publication date of 1884. It is thus not clear what M meant by this reference. All other references in the letter are consistent with the date given.

is mainly finished, and as then my work for the London Exhibition

3

Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886.

will also be done and the Atlas of Myoporinae finished.

4

B86.08.05.

Thus I hope to prepare soon more spare-collections of dried plants in my Museum, and your great institution shall then also not be forgotten. Meanwhile I send for your kind acceptance by this post about 200 spec. of dried plants, some of which will likely prove new to your Museum.

My principal object of writing to you this day arises from a desire, to consult you concerning the elaboration of Mr Forbes's forthcoming Papuan collections.

5

H. O. Forbes had been appointed to lead an expedition to New Guinea, jointly sponsored by the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Geographical Society. He arrived in Cooktown, Qld, in August 1885 and from there travelled to New Guinea.

He is himself anxious, that I should take a large share in this work; and as Sir Jos. Hooker and Professor Asa Gray both regard the Papuan Flora as more particularly coming within my scope,

6

See J. Hooker to M, 17 January 1884. Gray's opinion has not been found.

as so much connected with that of North-Australia, I am most eager, that Mr Forbes' collections should largely form the material for my continuing the publication on "Papuan plants".

7

M again published extensively on Papuan plants from 1884 (B84.10.03). He restarted with B85.13.33 his series Descriptive notes on Papuan Plants, of which vol. 1 had been completed in 1877 (B77.13.14). The final fascicle of the new series was published as B90.05.01; later papers appeared outside this series.

Dr Beccari is much engaged on the elaboration of the plants of the Sunda-Islands, and has even to seek help for that; and the Botanists at Buitenzorg-Garden in Java have also their hands full with special work of Dutch India.

8

i.e. the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia.

But as Mr Forbes has made arrangements, to send his first set of botanic specimens to the British Museum, (or rather the S. Kensington Museum) it would be needful, that I should learn, whether beyond the ferns you intend to work on any other natural orders concerning New Guinea. The subsidy of £500, which the geographic Society of Australia, of which I am local president in Victoria, has granted to Mr Forbes, is coupled with the condition, that a full set of his specimens is forwarded for distribution

9

distribution interlined.

the scientific institutions of Australia, and thus the second set of his plants will come to me. This is but fair, as we here are really the main contributors to his fund, and without us he would not have had the means of ascending the highest ranges of New Guinea at all.

It must also be considered, that the respective Governments of the Australian Colonies expect a return for the public money granted, particularly as we hope to obtain further Governments subsidies for Mr F. next year.

From the 6th part of my "Papuan plants"

10

B85.06.03.

transmitted herewith, you will perceive, that I am following up my former researches, and make of the study of the New Guinean plants a speciality; and probably to no one in the world would also the highland-plants of New Guinea have such a great interest as to me, in as much as I solely rendered known the alpine flora of continental Australia, with which that of New Guinea must have very many connections.

I am ready to undertake the elaboration of all plants of Mr Forbes,

11

There is a marginal annotation in Carruthers 's hand opposite the first seven lines of this paragraph:

Ericaceae

Raffles[ium]

B[a]lanoph[..][ceae]

Mr Fawcett [i.e. William Fawcett]

Orchideae

& indeed the whole of the monocotyledons as little

Mr Ridley

so far as New Guinea is concerned, except the ferns, which you ought to elaborate with your intimate knowledge of pteridology; on evascular cryptogams

12

Marginal annotation in Carruthers 's hand opposite ' evascular cryptogams ': Mr Murray.

I could not work to advantage here, my library concerning them is incomplete. As at Kew the completion of the Flora of India and of tropical Africa will yet take many years, and as Kew has not subsidised Mr F's fund, no claims can arise there; and I cannot see any other rights arising on Mr Forbes's plants unless by any particular monographer, who may just be engaged on any particular group, who could receive the material from either you or me, though I should like to know, what monographers might be forthcoming, so as to avoid clashing. As for the Flora of Australia I had since 1847 to work on nearly all orders of plants of the world, none among Di- and Mono-Cotyledoneae comes amiss to me here.

13

Marginal annotation in Carruthers ' s hand opposite ' As for the … to me here ': Plants to come here & be distributed – the first set here – the remainder made into sets – Hope to get Mr F. instruction & will send when instructed the proper number of sets to you for Australia And send also all uniques to be returned after description.

I cannot expect, to see my life by divine mercy so far prolonged, as to complete a "Papuan Flora"; but during the probably but very few years of my remaining life,

14

Marginal annotation in Carruthers ' s hand opposite ' of my remaining … aspiration ': Can we procure the second or a good set of Everill's [types] [of] the Fly River.

Captain Henry Everill commanded Bonito for the Geographical Society of Australasia's 1885 expedition up the Fly River.

I should like (to some extent) one of its main-aspirations fulfilled, that of shedding extensively light on the vegetation of the land of the Paradise-birds!