Ferdinand von Mueller

24/8/61

Dear Sir William.

I beg to send you an other sheet of my flora,

1

B62.03.03.

that of

Buettneriaceae

Search for Buettneriaceae in

• This website
• Australian Plant Name Index

is following & nearly ready. I beg also to send a copy of my semiofficial letter forwarded last mail & some letters having reference to Mr Benthams work.

2

M to W. Hooker, 23 July 1861; the other letters 'having reference to Mr Benthams work' probably included G. Bennett to M, 24 July 1861, H. Barkly to M, 24 July 1861 (in this edition as 61-04-27a), R. MacDonnell to M, 17 July 1861, and W. Archer to M, August 1861 (in this edition as 61-08-00b).

I trust you in your usual goodness will not think me selfish. - God knows I have endured troubles & dangers & losses so manyfold for the sake of an Australian Flora, that I hardly like to think of past years of toil. I have recently extended my library to such an extent, that the botanical portion alone cost me about a thousand pounds, which is entirely privat property. I have sent a collector

3

Diedrich Henne.

by the Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mr Oldfield goes to Cape Leewin.

4

Cape Leeuwin, WA.

Mr Maxwell to the great Bight or rather to the country behind it. Gregory has promised to collect at Mount Augustus,

5

Francis Gregory in 1861 led an exploring expedition to the Pilbara region of WA, but he did not visit Mt Augustus (F. Gregory (1861)), which he had named in 1858 (F. Gregory (1858)). His journals are also given in A. Gregory & F. Gregory (1884), the 1858 expedition at pp. 37-51 and the 1861 expedition at pp. 52-98. See B63.04.03.

Walcott in N. W. Australia and others elsewhere. Of all these plants Mr Bentham shall have full access & your herbarium be provided with. As soon as the Exhibition

6

Melbourne exhibition of 1861, in conjunction with the London exhibition of 1862. See B61.13.06.

duties are passed, which will be at the fall of the year I can sort all duplicates, as the first vol. of my flora will also be ready by that time. Dr Beckler has sent some very nice new things from Barrier range,

7

NSW.

the novelties being chiefly compositae. I hope the various consignments of algae &c &c arrived.

I was so pleased to hear of my election to the R.S. and have asked for dispension of the rule of personal attendance in my favor.

8

At its meeting on 24 October 1861, the Council of the Royal Society resolved 'that Mr Ferdinand Müller, now in Australia, be granted an extension of the time of his admission into the Society during his stay abroad'; see Minutes of the Council of the Royal Society (Print) vol. 3 (London, 1870), pp. 100-1.

I trust it will be granted and I have also written to Sir R. Murchison & Prof. Owen on the same subject.

9

M to R. Owen, 24 August 1861; the letter to Murchison has not been found.

Pray give Mr Bentham my sincerely joyful congratulation to the so well merited Presidency of the L.S.

10

Elected President of the Linnean Society, 24 May 1861.

— Best regards to Dr Hooker & Dr Harvey.

Mr Phelps, Dr Harveys new brother in law, was in my house yesterday.

11

Joseph Phelps, a brother of Elizabeth Phelps, a childhood friend of William Harvey whom he married on 2 April 1861 (see Ducker (1988), pp. 15). (Another brother, John Lecky Phelps (1815-1881), was also in Australia for a number of years and jointly owned properties with Joseph, but he returned to Ireland before this letter was written.)

He is an excellent and generous man.

12

MS annotation by W. Hooker: Seeds. | Azolla dead. | One box of live plants by Kohinoor. | Parcel of Seaweeds. [Pamphlets] [ Anemonies ]'. Most of the plants by Kohinoor were recorded as arriving dead (RBG Kew, Inwards Book, 1859-1867, pp 122-3, entry number 218, dated 31 October 1861).