106 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV, 



Dr. Harvey, the great algologist, who visited Victoria in 1855, 

 collected sea-weeds with Dr. Curdie at the mouth of the Glenelg 

 River and other places. He figured in his " Phycologia 

 Australica " the following sea-weeds, by which he commemorated 

 Dr. Curdie : — Curdiea laciniata, C. obtuscUa, and JVitophylluin 

 Curdieannm. 



Dr. Curdie died on 22nd February, 1884. 



I am indebted for most of the above details concerning Dr. 

 Curdie to Mrs. M. L. Tangye, one of his daughters, who has 

 favoured me with a most interesting account of the life of this 

 grand old Victorian pioneer, and I only regret it is not in my 

 power to print it in full, 



Dallachy, John (1820 (?)-i87i). 



Born in the north of Scotland, about 1820. As a young 

 gardener he was at Haddo House, the Earl of Aberdeen's place. 

 Sir William Hooker, the Director of Kew, being on a visit to 

 Haddo, Dallachy applied to him to be put on at Kew, and Sir 

 William granted the request. In a few years he returned to 

 Haddo as head gardener, the grounds being at that time the 

 most extensive and the finest in Scotland, the Earl being "an 

 eager and enthusiastic botanist." New Holland plants were 

 especially cultivated. Mr. Wm. Sangster, of the Toorak and 

 Macedon Nurseries, served under Dallachy at that time. 



Dallachy left Scotland in 1847 to fill an appointment as 

 manager of a coffee plantation in Ceylon, and bore a letter of 

 introduction from Lord Aberdeen to the Governor. After the 

 gold discovery in Australia, Dallachy asked the Governor of 

 Ceylon to give him a letter to Mr. Latrobe, who, on the death 

 of Mr. Arthur, appointed him, in 1849, Superintendent of the 

 Melbourne Botanic Gardens, the title being later changed to 

 that of Curator. Many of the trees he then planted are still con- 

 spicuous on the south-eastern slope. 



On his arrival in Victoria he had been engaged as gardener by 

 Consul J. B. Were, at Brighton. 



He used to make frequent botanical expeditions in Victoria 

 (see 8) on behalf of the Gardens — e.g., he is stated to have been 

 the first to follow up the River Yarra to its source in the Baw- 

 Baw Mountains. 



tie introduced Baron von (then Dr.) Mueller to Governor 

 Latrobe, and recommended him as a suitable person to be 

 appointed plant collector and botanist. 



Through various causes Dallachy lost his position in the 

 Gardens, and went as botanical collector in Victoria and Queens- 

 land, while Mueller (in 1857) succeeded him in charge of the 

 Gardens. 



On leaving the Gardens he started a nursery at Mt. Erica 

 (now East Prahran), but failed to make it a success. 



