the Uictorian naturalist 



Vol. XXIV.— No. 6. OCTOBER 10, 1907. No. 286. 



FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB OF VICTORIA. 



The ordinary monthly meeting of the Club was held in the 

 Royal Society's Hall on Monday evening, 9th September, 1907. 

 Professor A.J. Ewart, D.Sc, Ph.D., one of the vice-presidents, 

 occupied the chair, and about 40 members and visitors were 

 present, 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The following letter from Mr. Chas. Walter, dated loth August, 

 1907, was read : — 



To THE President and Members of the F.N.C. of Victoria. 



Gentlemen, — By the August Naturalist, received to-day, T learn that 

 Professor Ewart at the last meeting of your society took occasion to criticise 

 a paper of mine read before your Club on the 14th August, 1899, and pub- 

 lished in the Naturalist, vol. xvi., p. 99. In referring to the list of plants 

 new for Victoria, he said " practically the whole of this part of the list 

 becomes valueless, although its compilation must have entailed a good deal of 

 trouble to its author." Now, in the (irst place, I would point out that 

 nowhere in my paper did I claim to make the first record, as Professor Ewart 

 seems to imply, of any of the plants mentioned. My object, as clearly shown 

 by the last paragraph, which Professor Ewart surely cannot have read, was 

 simply to bring the list of Victorian plants up to date in the Victorian 

 Naturalist, since no list of plants new to Victoria had been published in your 

 journal since November 1893, nearly six years before. Possibly I might have 

 indicated my meaning in plainer terms ; but was it likely that I would claim as 

 new for Victoria two plants named and described by Mr. F. M. Reader in 

 your journal two years before ? My intention was simply to publish a sup- 

 plemental list of Victorian plants, as had been done by the late Baron von 

 Mueller in 1887 and 1893, so that local collectors miyht be saved the 

 trouble of consulting the records at the National Herbarium, and in this I 

 had the concurrence and assistance of the late Mr. J. G. Luehmann, Curator of 

 the National Herbarium. Had Professor Ewart's communication appeared in 

 this month's Naturalist I could have spoken regarding others of my so-called 

 errors. However, I trust that, in fairness to me, this explanation will be 

 published in the next issue of the Naturalist. — I am, yours, &c. , 



CHAS. WALTER. 



Prof. Ewart said that, as published, the list could not help but 

 be misleading to future workers unless corrected. He was glad 

 of the explanation, but hoped that in the future neither correc- 

 tion nor explanation would be necessary. 



Mr. F. G. A. Barnard said he considered Mr. Walter's intention 

 was for the best, and would not have been so open to criticism if 

 the term " unlisted " had been used in place of " unrecorded." 

 Of course, he did not excuse Mr. Walter for any real errors, such 

 as had been pointed out by Professor Ewart. 



