PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF THE AUSTRALIAN FLORA. 14] 



instance to pay a tribute to the Manes of my lamented friend, 

 whose last essay is now before lis, it having become almost posthu- 

 mous when it was finished. A correspondence with Dr. Woolls, 

 which extended almost over forty years, in which epistolary inter- 

 course we exchanged probably not less than 1,500 letters, or 

 perhaps more, gave opportunities to numerous Phytologic discus- 

 sions, he having mainly through myself been drawn into his 

 botanic path, and during this long period, which came to a sudden 

 end through an accident, sustained by him as an octogenarian, he 

 contributed most zealously and thoughtfully to my collections. 

 It is therefore with a deep interest that I now read what proves the 

 last of his extensive literary efforts ; and I fulfil with mournful 

 feelings the wish of the Victoria Institute to offer some brief notes 

 on his memoir. 



As regards investigations on Dampier's plants, to which the 

 author early alludes, it may here be stated that already R. Brown 

 chose one of the plants gathered by that renowned traveller, foi- a 

 dedication, and that after Cunningham's elucidations on Dampier's 

 own ground, stmie further notes on the memorable xylograms 

 given by Dampier, were promulgated by the Royal Botanic 

 Society of Edinburgh, in its seventh volume, when I referred also 

 to Plukenet's and Dryander's records ; further that Professor 

 Lawson, when at Oxford, added from inspection of the original 

 material to the published elucidations on this subject 



Sir Joseph Hooker, in treating for the preface to the Flora of 

 Tasmania the development of our knowledge of Australian plants 

 historically, refers also to Dampier's merits as a botanic observer 

 pointedly. 



Following up Dr. Woolls' notations, it is at this moment of 

 particular interest to learn from Sir Josej^h Hooker of the 

 intention to get under his surveillance published in London very 

 soon the original diaries of Sir Joseph Banks (his sponsors) as 

 written during Cook's first voyage, and this is sure to throw 

 additional light on the Australian vegetation ; as for instance, the 

 incidents connected with the earliest discovery of a Musa in our 

 part of the globe. As affecting the recorded discoveries of Banks' 

 and Solander it may be proper here to recollect that the elder 

 Gaertner from 1788-1791 brought first under notice several of the 

 plants of that expedition, chiefly from carpologic specimens. We 

 should also not lose sight of the fact that Robert Brown's 

 researches were not confined to continental Australia., as this great 

 phytologic investigator had the happy chance to visit also 

 Tasmania previously ; thus indeed it was that the first alpine plants 

 (from what is now called Mount Wellington) became known. 



Why R. Brown stopped short at the volume of his celebrated 

 Prodromus, in which the Ferns, Monocotyledonte, Apetalse, and part 

 of the Monopetalse are contained, is better known in Britain than 

 here : but it is a fact which influences the bearing: of that so 



