Ferdinand von Mueller

22/3/80.

The remarkable fungus, sent by you, dear Mr Ramsay,

1

See M to E. Ramsay, 15 March 1880 (in this edition as 80-03-15a).

belongs to the genus Clavaria, I think; but my means for mycologic studies are here so limited both in books & museum-specimens, that I do not like to give a positive opinion. I will send the specimen to a leading mycologist in England or Germany, Fries now being dead. Even if a fungus proves new for Australia, it may be known from other parts of the globe, the species having in many instances a wide and capricious distribution.

I wrote to Sir Sam. Wilson, who is so immensely rich & who has such a taste for horticulture, to ask whether he would give £100 towards your collectors expenses, but he declines on the ground of the difficulty of really interesting new inland-fields being reached.

2

Letters not found.

Has your L.S.

3

Linnean Society of NSW.

space for some notes on N. W. Austr. plants, which notes would occupy only some few Octavo-pages. They refer to the plants of the last portion of Mr Forrests expedition of last year. The specimens were lost sight off in the transmission & only now turned up, too late for Mr F's Report.

4

M's original intent had been to issue the list as an appendix to a report of John Forrest's trigonometric survey, but publication of the survey was not approved by the WA Government, and M's report was issued as an independent publication, B81.03.02 (M to J. Forrest, July 1879, and notes thereto).

I suppose the notes could soon appear & some extracopies of the print be struck off on my expense.

5

M's supplementary account was not given to the Linnean Society of NSW, but was read to the Royal Society of NSW on 7 July 1880 and subsequently published in that Society's Journal (B81.13.04).