The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 12/7/86 ¶ ¶ ¶ In first instance, dear Mr Carruthers, let me offer my best felicita- ¶ Word, at end of line, has not been completed. ¶ ¶ to your being raised to the Presidentship of the now venerabl...

Document information

Physical location:

Natural History Museum, London, Museum Archives, DF404/5, folder 71,Mueller, Sir FJH von. 86.07.12

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to William Carruthers, 1886-07-12. 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//letters/1880-9/1886/86-07-12-final.odt>, accessed June 15, 2026

12/7/86

In first instance, dear Mr Carruthers, let me offer my best felicita-

Word, at end of line, has not been completed.

to your being raised to the Presidentship of the now venerable Linnean Society, which as a worthy successor of Smith, Brown, Bentham, Lubbock, and so many other illustrious men you will hold with so much dignity!

James Edward Smith, Robert Brown (1773-1858), George Bentham, John Lubbock.

So it will fall to your share, to preside at the Society’s centenary Jubilee!

24 May 1888.

You being still young, I trust you will hold this highly distinguished position through very many years, like some of your predecessors.

William Carruthers was elected President of the Linnean Society of London on 24 May 1886, and served for four years (Gage & Stearn (1988), p. 219).

It was me, who moved for a joint antarctic Committee here, to give the Home Committee some help; and it was also on my proposition, that our Senior Naval Explorer, Capt Pascoe, was made chairman here.

I have done all preliminaries in sorting and arranging Mr Forbes plants, and have just elaborated his Sterculiae with other Papuan species from various sources.

Henry Forbes; B86.08.03 included several species represented in Forbes's collection, including the new species Sterculia oncinocarpa attributed to M and Forbes, p. 49.

You and Mr Ridley will be doubtless able to utilize the msc, sent two weeks ago, on Vaccinieae; and I anticipate, that Mr Britten will be glad, to publish it with such notes, as you may append.

James Britten was the editor of the Journal of botany, in which M’s descriptions appeared (B86.10.01). The following note is included: .In a letter accompanying the above descriptions, Baron von Mueller has asked me to compare them with the larger series of Mr Forbes’s specimens received at the British Museum, and to add any additional characters which these might supply. I find scarcely anything to supplement his description, but with regard to Agapetes Forbesii it may be noted that the peduncles are contracted. Mr. Forbes’s No. 768 (from Mount Wori-Wori, 5000 ft.) also belongs to this species. — W. Fawcett.

With regardful

remembrance your

Ferd von Mueller.

I hope to make soon good progress with Mr Forbes's plants, particularly as his specimens become completed in many instances by what I had from others.