24 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



become suppressed even to the extent of the real Mt. Hotham 

 and to Mt. Latrobe, though they were named in a special 

 despatch from Omeo as far back as 1854, after my having 

 ascended the two mountains, fixed approximately their position, and 

 measured their height near enough, though with the most scanty 

 of instruments. That despatch was at the time at once placed 

 before the then Council by Sir Charles Hotham, long before I 

 came back to Melbourne, printed irrespective of my fuller 

 account of the Alps in my annual report of 1855, written and 

 printed before I went to Arnheim's Land. You will kindly 

 understand that arbitrary and unjust changes in the nomenclature 

 of several of our highest mountains occurred or were brought 

 about long before your time. Still it must be a source of lasting 

 •regret that in this way also the names of Sir Thos. Mitchell 

 and Sir Andrew Clarke, two of the three first Surveyors-General 

 of our territory, became obliterated. Is there no means of 

 remedying this yet ? Priority should also be recognized in 

 geography. — Ferd. von Mueller." 



The second is dated 18/10 84, and reads : — 



" Let me thank you, dear Mr. Stirling, for the trouble you have 

 taken in marking a copy of your district map, geologically, for me. 

 Thus it has become exceedingly valuable for me. What is called 

 now Mt. Feathertop is my Mt. Blotham of 1854, and what is 

 named Mt. Bogong I called then already Mt. Latrobe. My 

 rough observations made them higher in proportion to Mt. BuUer, , 

 which I ascended in 1853. — Ferd. von Mueller." 



From these you will see that the present Feathertop was what 

 he originally called Mt. Hotham, in honour of the then Governor, 

 and Mt. Bogong was called Latrobe, in honour of the first 

 Lieutenant-Governor of Port Phillip (now Victoria). This sub- 

 stitution of names to a certain extent alters the first-recorded 

 localities — viz.. Mount Buffalo, Mount Hotham, and Mount 

 Latrobe — for certain plants, notably Grevillea victorice ("Trans- 

 actions Philosophical Society of Victoria," vol. i. (1855), P- i°7)> 

 and might lead botanists astray when collecting in the Alps at 

 the present time. I had hoped that this shrub would have 

 afforded some clue to the original Mount Hotham, as Mr. Stirling 

 does not include it in his flora of our Mount Hotham {Victorian 

 Naturalist, vol. iv., p. 76), but Mr. C. Walter informs me that he 

 has collected it on the mountain, and Mr. Weindorfer notes it 

 as occurring on Bogong {Victorian Naturalist, xx., p. 147). 

 However, if the bearings are printed correctly in his Omeo 

 despatch, there is a still further discrepancy, for he gives Latrobe 

 (Bogong) as 8 miles S. 25° E. from Hotham, i.e., our Feathertop, 

 which, according to our present maps, is totally wrong, being 

 fully 16 miles N. 40° E. Now the present Feathertop and 



