[xxix] 



100 genera considered new. 'Mr. Brown takes, also, the liberty to state 

 that he has made some progress in preparing a Prodromus, in which it 

 is intended to give the characters of all the new genera, and of such of 

 those already publish'd as seem to require alteration, together with spe- 

 cific differences of those genera already finish'd, and of as many others 

 as he may be able to prepare'. His report of 6 January 1810 (cf. Hist. 

 Rec. N. S. W. 7: 262) reckoned the number of species as 3,400, out of 

 which nearly 2,200 were described, upwards of 1,700 being new species, 

 and comprehending 140 new genera. By now he had decided to widen 

 the scope of his Prodromus so as 'to include the generic and specific 

 characters of all the plants known to be natives of New Holland. In 

 conformity with this plan, nearly one half of the work is prepar'd for 

 the press, and of the part prepar'd rather more than half is now printed'. 

 He had then selected about 2,800 specimens for the public collection 

 (see pp. xxvi, xxvii). 



As shown below, the first and only volume of the Prodromus was 

 published early in April 1810. 



PUBLICATION OF BROWN'S 'PRODROMUS' AND 

 COGNATE WORKS 

 Brown himself paid the cost of printing his Prodromus, which 

 amounted to £ 93. 14. 4V2 d. according to a note by him in a copy now 

 belonging to the Department of Botany, British Museum (Natural 

 History), London. The same note states that in March he 'delivered to 

 Miles and Hunter formerly Johnson & Co. St. Pauls Churchyard 

 20 copies'. The unpublished Council minutes of the Linnean Society 

 of London record that on 3 April 1810 Trodromus Florae Novae Hol- 

 landiae et Insulae Van Diemen autore Roberto Brown and a Paper 

 on the Asclepiadeae by Mr. Brown from the Wernerian Transactions 

 were presented by the Author'. The previous meeting of the Linnean 

 Society was held on 20 March 1810. The Prodromus was advertised in 

 the newspaper Morning Post on 7 April 1810 as just published and listed 

 in William Bent's booktrade journal The Monthly Literary Advertiser 

 1810 (60): 27 (10 April 1810) as a newly published work. Thus Browns 

 Prodromus and reprints (separates) of his paper On the Asclepiadeae, a 

 natural Order of Plants separated from the Apocineae of Jussieu were 

 made available at the same time, i. e. in the first week of April 1810. 

 This paper was subsequently issued in the Memoirs of the Wernerian 

 Natural History Society vol. 1 (pp. 12—78) of which the titlepage is 



