RECORDS OF QUEENSLAND BOTANISTS. 379* 



Li:\DLET„ John — 



The describe!- of Mitchell's Queensland and other Australian 

 plants. See (6). 



MaoGillivkat, John ( -1867). .Usually spelled ]\IcGillivray in 

 eiror — 



Son of William, Prof, of Botany at Aberdeen. Dr. P. H. 

 Gillivray, of Bendigo (the well-known authority on zoophytes), Avas a 

 brother. 



He died at Sydney 6tli June, 1867. The notice of him in (3) 

 confuses father and son through a slip of the pen. 



Mr. John MacGilhvray, late naturalist of H.M.S. "Rattlesnake," died at 

 Sydney on the 6th June. He had just returned from an expedition to the 

 Richmond River, and was preparing to leave for the islands of the South 

 Pacific, wiien his career of usefulness was cut short by death. John 

 MacGillivray was the eldest son of the late William MacGillivray, Regius 

 Professor of Natural History, Marischal' College, Aberdeen. He spent his 

 early years in Edinbin-gh, and exhibited from boyhood a taste for those 

 branches of natural science which his father cultivated witli so much success. 

 He Avas intended for the medical profession, and had all but completed his 

 studies when the late Lord Derby offered him the appointment of naturalist on 

 board H.M.S. "Fly," wliich Avas about to make the voyage round the Avorld. 

 On his return to England he was appointed naturalist to H.M.S. "Rattle- 

 snake," employed on the Government survey, and recorded the results of a 

 three years' cruise in two interesting volumes, Avhich Avere favourably received 

 by the public and the leading literary journals of the d;iy. Plis next appoint- 

 ment was to H.M.S. "Herald," and brought him to Polynesia and Australia. 

 Owing to his intemperate habits this appointment was cancelled. He spent 

 nearly five years among the savage inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, 

 where he had many strange adventures and hairbreadth escapes. He had a 

 wonderful power of gaining the confidence and adapting himself to the manners 

 of tlie cannibal tribes among whom he lived. (Seemann, Journ. Bot. a'. 316, 

 [1367].) 



See also (5), rmder Armstrong, J. 



In 1842, Captain Blackwood was sent out in H.M.S. "Fly" and "Bramble" 

 to make a further survey of the tropical coasts of Australia. 



Tlie narrative of the expedition Avas written by Mr. Jukes (Geologist to 

 the expedition), and contains no botanical matter. The coasts and islands 

 visited by the "Fly" and "Bramble" had been preA'iously e.xplored by 

 Cunningham, and subsequently by Mr. MacGillivrav, a skilful naturalist, in 

 H.M.S. "Rattlesnake." .... 



In 1847. H.M.S. "Rattlesnake" Avas fitted out by Captain OAven Stanley, 

 to discover openings through tlie Barrier Reefs in Torres Strait, to the north- 

 ward of Raine Island passage, to examine Harvey Bay as a site for a ncAv 

 settlement, and to make a general survey of the Lousiade Archipelago. 



Many places were visited betAveen Sydney, Cape York, and Port Essington, 

 and excellent collections made at Port Curtis, Rockingham Bay, Port Molle, 

 Cape York, Goold, Lizard, and Moreton Islands. The expedition was 

 accompanied by Mr. ilacGillivray, upon whom the task of editing the narrative 

 of tlie voyage devolved, owing to the death of its commander in Sydney. Mr. 

 MacGilUvray's narrative abounds in interesting observations on the vegetation 

 of Australia. Among the most noticeable discoveries are — that of a clump of 

 cocoanuts on Frankland Islands, whence, no doubt, the nuts and husks Avere 

 washed to the mainland, where they had excited the curiosity of Cook, King, 

 &c., of Carijofa itrcns and a native jNIusa, on the peninsula of Cape York, and 

 of the Balanop/iora fungosa in Rockingham Bay. The author also mentions 

 the existence of the Pomegranate on Fitzroy Island, Avhere (if no error exists) 

 it has no doubt been planted. . . . (2.) 



