SEPARATE WORK IN THE GENERA PLANTARUM. 305 
and notes of A. Cunningham, from the rich herbaria of Kew, 
from the ‘Flora Tasmanica’ and other published works of 
the Hookers, as well as from the numerous instructive notes of 
the Hookers, of Planchon, and others who had worked in the her- 
barium. In the case of Baron v. Mueller, however, the extreme 
liberality with which he gave up in my favour his own projects 
for a general Flora of Australia, and the great value for my pur- 
poses of the very numerous specimens of each species which he 
had collected into the Melbourne herbarium, the whole of which 
he unreservedly lent to me, seemed to me to demand a special 
recognition in the titlepage of the * Flora, which has thus been 
misconstrued into an indication of cooperation. A joint work 
was impossible where consultation was prevented by the great dis- 
tance which separated us; to procure an answer to the simplest 
question required four or five months. The descriptions in the 
‘Flora’ are drawn up from the actual examination of specimens, 
generally checked by a comparison with the MS. notes and 
printed works above referred to, amongst which Baron v. Mueller's 
‘Fragmenta, regularly transmitted to me as printed, bear a pro- 
minent part. Nothing in my work is merely copied, except in a 
very few cases where the material at my disposal was insufficient, 
ard where I have specially referred to my authority. The 
method and classification are entirely mine, though of course 
derived from general and other published botanical works. 
The case of the ‘ Genera Plantarum’ was very different. Some 
six- or seven-and-twenty years ago, when my botanical work- 
shop had become firmly established in the Kew Herbarium and 
my intercourse with Sir Joseph (then Dr.) Hooker, always very 
intimate, had become more constant, we both of us felt the in- 
convenience of the want of a Genera Plantarum founded on 
actual observation to replace the already antiquated ones of 
Endlicher and Meissner, both of which, especially the latter, had 
been in a great measure mere compilations, and each of us had 
formed the project of endeavouring to supply the deficiency ; but 
it appeared almost too vast an undertaking to be carried out by 
a single hand; and Hooker proposed as the best chance of seeing 
the work brought to a successful issue, that we should join our 
forces. Notwithstanding my normal aversion to partnership 
botany, I saw that here there was nothing to fear from collision, 
and but little from any permanent separation. I had always 
found that I could perfectly coincide with Hooker in his views in 
