Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from De Toni (1896), a report on algae from Flinders Island, Tas. It was published as part of a report of the meeting of the Italian Botanical Society (Società Botanico Italiana) held in Pisa in September 1896. M's sending of the package to De Toni is dated to 1896 as the latest it could have been sent, but it is likely that it was sent some time earlier.

[Il chiarissimo botanico Ferdinando Mueller, residente a Melbourne, il quale da parecchi anni mi va facendo spedizione di materiali australiani coli' incarico che io abbia a redigergli un «Systematic Census of the Australian Marine Algae», mi ha, tra altro, inviato un pacco di ficee marine raccolte appunto sulle spiaggie dell'isola antedetta dal console sig. Gundswer]

[The illustrious botanist Ferdinand Mueller, a resident of Melbourne, who has been sending me Australian materials for several years with the assignment that I have to draw up a "Systematic Census of the Australian Marine Algae",

2

No letter requesting De Toni to prepare such a 'systematic census' has been found.

sent me a package of marine Ficee

3

As used by De Toni & Levi-Morenos (1888) in their catalogue of the collection of Zanaradini, 'Ficee' comprises the algae other than the Florideae and diatoms. De Toni used it in this general sense in at least some of his publications, for example, De Toni (1896), p. 225.

collected precisely on the beaches of the aforesaid island

4

Flinders Island.

by the consul Gundswer

5

Almost certainly Hans Gundersen, the Consul for Sweden and Norway in Melbourne, who owned property on Flinders Island (see Launceston examiner , 8 May 1890, p. 3, as Gunderson). De Toni's text continues: 'Siccome scarsissime notizie si possiedono sulla florula algologia dell' isola di Flinders ', ho creduto non del tutto inutile determinare gli esemplari ricevuti in esame e pubblicarne qui i risultati' [ As very little information is available on the algal flora of Flinders Island, I believed it was not entirely useless to determine the specimens received and publish the results here]. A classified list of algae follows, including some species from De Toni's herbarium that had been determined by Agardh.

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