Document information
Physical location:
RB MSS M11, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 81.12.05a
Plant names
-
Eucalyptus tereticornis
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Eucalyptus tereticornis
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Preferred Citation:
Alfred Howitt to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1881-12-05 [81.12.05a]. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id/81-12-05a>, accessed May 18, 2024
1
MS annotations by M: 'individua disturb. respirat & assimilatory functions | affect
destructively | hurt | Euc destroyer | Euc.-vorous | North Gippsland | destructive
action'.
2
MS found with a specimen of
(MEL 707281).
Eucalyptus tereticornis
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3
Vic.
Dec 5 1881.
Baron Sir Ferd v. Mueller KCMG
Melbourne
My dear Baron
I send you herewith a small case containing the pupae
of the Lepidopter which eats the E. tereticornis.
4
larvae deleted by Howitt and replaced with pupae.
I also enclose some sketches which a lady here has kindly made of the caterpillars.
The larger sketches are twice the natural size — the smaller sketches are life size
— but the caterpillars varied somewhat.
I am not sure whether there is not one of a different kind — but whether it is among
these I send you or among those I have I cannot say as my girls did not notice when
it went into retirement.
5
M sent the drawings to William Macleay, who exhibited them at the meeting of the Linnean
Society of NSW held on 25 December 1881 (letter not found, see 'Notes and exhibits',
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 1882, vol. 6, p. 845). Macleay reported that 'in the absence of a specimen or even
of any description, of the perfect insect, it is absolutely impossible to determine
the species of Moth to which the larva belongs; but it apparently is of the genus
Orgyia, Family Arctiidae and Division Pseudo-Bombyces. … I have never before heard of the
numbers of any of this group of moths being so great in any locality as to injure
trees.'
I shall be pleased to learn the results when they come out in the Imago form
yours faithfully
A W Howitt