[xxvi] 



as librarian in his place. Banks's great esteem for Brown is shown by 

 his will under whieh he gave to his 'indefatigable and intelligent libra- 

 rian Robert Brown, Esq., an annuity of two hundred pounds' and 'the 

 use and enjoyment during his life of my library, herbarium, manuscripts, 

 drawings, copper-plates engraved, and everything else that is contained 

 in my collections', the same to pass at Brown's death to the Trustees 

 of the British Museum. Banks died in 1820. Brown negotiated with the 

 Trustees, transferred the Banksian collections to the British Museum 

 in J827, wisely making terms highly favourable to himself, and was 

 appointed Keeper of Sir Joseph Banks's Botanical Collections (which 

 later became the Department of Botany) in the British Museum, with 

 the status of under-librarian. His immediate task in 1806 was 'to select 

 from among his specimens of plants a compleat apartment of one speci- 

 men at least of every species' for their Lordships of the Admiralty, to 

 go into the public collection of the British Museum. This occupied him 

 two days a week, the rest of his time being spent on their determination 

 and description. The duplicate specimens remained his private property, 

 since the Admiralty's instructions of 29 April 1801 (Hist. Rec. N. S. W. 

 4: 351) stated that after specimens and sketches had been applied to 

 such purposes as their Lordships approved 'the remainder of the col- 

 lections of natural history, arms, habits, implements, ornaments, etc, 

 shall be at the disposal of the persons who have collected them', and on 

 Brown's death in 1858 his herbarium passed by bequest to John Jo- 

 seph Bennett (1801—76), then Keeper of the Department of Botany, 

 who kept it at the British Museum and began the distribution of dupli- 

 cates. On Bennetts death in 1876 the whole became the possession of 

 the British Museum. As Burbidge (1956) has written, 'During his life- 

 time Brown was never particularly generous with his collections. No 

 specimens were distributed and they could only be consulted after his 

 personal permission had been obtained for a botanist to visit the British 

 Museum during certain limited visitors' hours. In his will he appointed 

 J. J. Bennett, who was his successor at the Museum, as his executor, 

 and it fell to Bennett to arrange for the distribution of duplicates, a 

 task which was not completed***. It is these duplicates which are 

 usually quoted as "types", and it is from the meagre details recorded 

 on their labels that information as to locality has generally been derived. 

 Since Brown did not number his specimens consecutively during the 

 voyage in the Investigator with Matthew Flinders, or during the sub- 

 sequent periods in New South Wales and Tasmania, Bennett added 



