84 A COS-TEIBTJTION TO, ETC. 



iully the wonderful labours manifested in the " Prodromus" and 

 to admire the profound talents and unwearied industry of its dis- 

 tinguished author, so " that the universal consent of botanists 

 recognises \rnost justly the title conferred on him by his illustrious 

 friend, Alexander Yon Humboldt, of " Botanicorum facile Prin- 

 ceps." No person was more capable of forming an opinion of 

 Brown's merits as a writer on ferns than the late Sir William 

 Hooker, and that learned author, in the Preface to the " Species 

 Mlicum" says "had he given hk master-mind to the complete 

 development of the subject, little would have remained to his 

 successor, but to tread closely in his steps." The mantle indeed 

 fell upon Hooker, but that eminent 'and venerable writer was 

 not permitted to accomplish the great work of Avhich five volumes 

 have already been made known to the world ; for having lived 

 beyond the ordinary period of human existence, he has left for 

 others to fill up the details of that extensive plan which he had 

 so ably devised. 



Before I close this paper, I must also express the obligation I 

 feel to Dr. F. Mueller for the list of Australian ferns published 

 in the Botanical Report on the North Australian Expedition, and 

 also for the description of some new species in his Fragmerita 

 Phytographice Australia, as well as the valuable information fur- 

 nished by him respecting interesting ferns supposed to be iden- 

 tical with those in other parts of the world. It is the ardent wish 

 of the writer that Dr. Mueller's life may be spared to accomplish 

 the works on which he is engaged, for perhaps there is no botanist 

 now living who is so well acquainted with Australian ferns, or 

 who, from extensive investigations and well exercised philoso- 

 phical habits, is so well qualified to clear away the difficulties of 

 the subject. In his valuable sketch of the vegetation of the 

 Chatham Islands, the doctor has already made some very judicious 

 remarks on the ferns of this part of the world, and his main 

 object has lately been to give a short account of what is really 

 known to the present day of our Australian species. As his work 

 is published in Latin, and circulated amongst the learned in all 

 parts of the world, it will afford the means of making our ferns 

 extensively known, and at the same time it will enable those who 

 are preparing popular articles, (such as that in which I have lately 

 been engaged) , to correct any inaccuracies into which they may 





