Ferdinand von Mueller

22/6/86

1

Annotated in purple pencil to left of date: Mr Baker | And 13/8/86 [letter not found].

A late evening hour is devoted to you, dear Mr Dyer, to reply early to your kind letter of yesterday

2

No letters to M dated 1886 from W. Thiselton-Dyer have been found.

arrival, so that I may be sure, not to be behind on the mail day, when the work is always particularly overwhelming.

In first place let me record my delight, that my former sending of fern-stems proved so opportune for decorating the Victorian Court, as done by you so obligingly and so circumspectly. The Giant Todea of mine, forwarded with the Commissioners goods, ought to thrive its fronds quickly , so as to be at once available for the purpose, it was sent for.

Had I known that Kew was not well provided with Alsophila australis, I could have sent most easily stems of it, as in many of the Ranges of Victoria, particularly in the basaltic formation it is more frequent than Dicksonia antarctica, occupying the slopes, not the margin of rivulets, as the Dicksonia does; - but the Alsophila is far less a good traveller over long distances, nor does its stem serve so well for epiphytes; hence it is not much sent out from here, unless on special demand.

As regards the fern-question, let me assure you and Mr Baker, that also in this respect I shall be as loyal to Kew as in other considerations; but exceptional cases will occur sometimes, one such being Prof. Lüerssens wish to receive for his monography of pacific ferns

3

Luerssen (1871).

whatever I could send in return for a very large collection of Mrs Dietrich's

4

M wrote Diettrich, but appears to have deleted the second 't'.

Queensland plants; Now, it was to a Central Institution for Researches on Australian plants of very great importance, to have one of the main -sets of Mrs D.'s plants, as Monographers are sure on many occasions to quote the numbers, altho' very few novelties were in the huge lot.

5

Amalie Dietrich's collections were sent to the Godeffroy Museum of Natural History in Hamburg, which employed her; see Sumner (1988). Godeffroy's was a trading house and sold sets of the specimens; see appendix to Lüttge(1988). The collection at MEL includes several specimens of Acacia dietrichiana, described in B82.07.04, p. 149, collected by Dietrich at Lake Elphinstone, Qld.

Most Cyperaceae came not to me but went to Bökeler, the Orchids to Reichenbach and Lüersen

6

Luerssen.

(of course) kept the ferns. I had therefore to make a special effort for returning a "quid pro quo" to Prof Lüerssen, and as he most particularly desired also New Guinea ferns, I gave him also what I could spare. Still, I saw little novelty among them, just as among D'Albertis, which I worked myself out for the "Papuan plants" in 1876 .

7

Luigi Maria D'Albertis' plants, including ferns (pp. 76–82), were described in B76.12.03.

Kew will have Beccaris ferns.

Prof Oliver's suggestion is a good one, to send whatever I have of N. Guin. fern on loan to Kew; I will gladly do so; and Mr Baker can then retain, whatever he needs for the Kew collections, dividing the unica.

8

vertical red pencil mark in the left margin next to and Mr Baker . . . the unica.

Prof Lüerssen makes such slow progress with the Papuan ferns, though hardly any novelty seems among them, that I latterly named most of the ferns myself.

9

B76.12.03, pp. 76-82.

New Guinea is so interjacent to Australia and the Sunda-Islands, that not such a very large access from there can be expected in ferns, unless the highest reigning,

10

unless . . [rei]gning interlined .

as from an isolated place as Madagascar. Please, tell the excellent Mr Baker particularly, that nothing will give me greater pleasure, than to serve him in his fernstudies, as he is likely also to add in the next edition the Lycopodiaceae and Rhizospermeae; irrespective of this, he has acted on several occasions most generously to my Department, and that I will always bear in grateful remembrance. But there seems no great hurry, to send the N.G. ferns on loan, as the new edition

11

vertical blue pencil line in left margin next to seems no great ... edition

of the synopsis

12

Hooker & Baker (1865–8).

seems not yet forthcoming; and I am at this moment so beset with various work, that I should like to take nothing in hand that is not absolutely necessary at once. Mr Forbes has sent no ferns, as by prearrangement they are allotted to Mr Carruthers.

13

M to W. Carruthers 21 October 1885 (in this edition as 85-10-21a) had suggested that Caruthers work out the ferns in the Henry Forbes collection. W. Carruthers to M 1 March 1886, set out arrangements for the description of the other groups.

I have never seen yet a specimen of Hemitelia Godefroyi

14

Hemitelia godeffroyi?

nor of Asplenium Dietrichianum.

I have not seen your brother in law

15

Brian Hooker.

lately, nor had I any letters from him recently; the very fact of he not having any cause to write, I take as a testimony (nevatively

16

negatively?

), that he is all right.

As yet little of actual novelty has turned up from New Guinea, except among Mr Forbes & the Rev Mr Chalmers last plants. I will see Kew provided as far as I can, with any thing of particular interest. Mere new locality (as Papuan) for well known species, will not be of importance. Unfortunately the supply of plants from New guinea on account of the difficulty of transit in such a country is always small, and as regards Mr Forbes only set for Australia, it has to be divided between the institutions of the three colonies who supported his enterprise in 1885 & 1886.

17

See M to W. Carruthers, 21 October 1885, in this edition as 85-10-21a.

In adopting the book-form for small wood-specimens as the most elegant and handy, I was always particular to keep the portion, imitating the leaf-portion, quite unvarnished ; thus the texture of the wood can be splendidly seen both longitudinally and transversely .

Of course a timber-collection and a wood collection have two different objects; and if a timber collection mainly of interest for builders is to be made, such as Mr Newbery had made through Mr Barnard (a nephew of Sir James Smith) a very large expenditure is incurred, and very large space is needed for accommodation. A small piece of wood varnished on one side is not a pretty object, and shows no more the structure of the wood as my book-fashion does. You must have failed to notice, that a portion of each wood-book in the Vict. Court remained quite without varnish.

18

In the Victorian Court of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886, in Class 34, M exhibited ' Products of the cultivation of Forests and of the Trades appertaining thereto ', '(1) Four Repositories containing samples of 166 species of Australian Woods in book form (2) Three Glass Cases containing 182 Articles manufactured of different kinds of Australian Woods.' In the same Class the Technological Museum ('J. Cosmo Newbery, Esq., B.Sc., C.M.G., Superintendent') exhibited '(1) A court formed of the principal Victorian Timbers, comprising 200 specimens of the most valuable; named and illustrated by pictorial specimens of the fruit, leaf, and flower of each. (2) Collection of Specimens of Woods, from the Trees and Shrubs of Victoria, adapted for economic purposes. Prepared for exhibition by F. W. Barnard. (The flowers and foliage painted in the Museum by Miss M. Vale.)'. See Colonial and Indian Exhibition (1886), p.195.

I hope the Xanthorrhoea and Zamia from WA. are thriving, got by Commissioners there on my suggestion.

19

In the Western Australian Court the exhibit of the 'Perth Local Committee' included 'A quantity of fronds from the Zamua Palm (Cycad)' and 'A Black Boy (Xanthorroea), 20 feet in height, of an exceptional size' (Colonial and Indian Exhibition [1886], p. 261).

The Adelaide-Exhibition

20

Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition, 1887.

is likely to be again a severe tax, both on my time and the slender resources of my Department; still, as these Exhibitions diffuse so much practical knowledge, we must all do the best, we can, for them.

With the wish to be kindly remembered to Sir Joseph and with best expressions of regard to yourself

Kindly write, when I am to send off the ferns on loan.

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vertical blue line in left margin next to Kindly ... loan

I hope also soon to resume the selecting of Australian Novelties for Kew; but really the local demands on my Department in such a varied way press heavily upon me in this pushing colony.

22

Annotated below the first post-script paragraph:

In an unknown hand: Proniflora

In J. G. Baker ' s hand: Species sent are Selaginella proniflora Baker [proniflora underlined in red pencil and the word printed clearly above it] & Trichomanes n sp near vitiense & muscoides, I have just been helping Beccari with a list of the ferns of New Guinea (published Malesia vol. III p. 30 to 55 & have described from material which he sent a new genus & several new species. I should be glad any time when convenient to borrow baron Von Muellers Guinea [sic] collection. | JGB.

Luerssen as yet described not one new fern from N. Guinea.

23

Luerssen . . . N. Guinea' written in central margin between f 177 back and f 178 front.