l6 RECORDS OF TASMANIAN BOTANISTS. 



west of them to Macquarie Harbour, and the Franklin and 

 Huon Rivers. There are few Tasmanian plants that Mr. Gunn 

 has not seen alive, noted their habits in a living state, and col- 

 lected large suites of specimens with singular tact and judgment. 

 These have all been transmitted to England in perfect preserva- 

 tion, and are accompanied with notes that display remarkable 

 powers of observation, and a facility for seizing important 

 characters in the physiognomy of plants such as few experienced 

 botanists possess. I had the pleasure of making Mr. Gunn's 

 acquaintance at Hobarton in 1840, and am indebted to him for 

 nearly all I know of the vegetation of the districts I then 

 visited, for we either studied together in the field or in the 

 library, or when he could not accompany me himself he directed 

 one of his servants, who was an experienced guide — a plant- 

 collector — to accompany me and take charge of my specimens. 

 I can recall no happier weeks of my various wanderings over 

 the globe than those spent with Mr. Gunn collecting in the 

 Tasmanian mountains and forests, or studying our plants in his 

 library, with the V'Orks of our predecessors, Labillardiere and 

 Brown. 



" Mr. Gunn made a short A'isit to Port Phillip and Wilson's 

 Promontory, and collected largely, noting all the differences 

 between the vegetation of the opposite shores of Bass' Straits." 

 (2) 



Hooker dedicated his Tasmanian flora conjointly to 

 Gunn and Archer. 



He was the most eminent botanist of Tasmania. His 

 collections are widely diffused, and his neat handwriting, 

 giving all the necessary details, is known to all Austra- 

 lian botanists who give altention to the history of Aus- 

 tralian botany. I make no apology for giving details of 

 his collecting grounds and other information concerning 

 him. He corresponded regularly with Sir Joseph 

 Hooker at Kew, and with Mueller, and all notable Aus- 

 tralian botanists of his time. 



" He corresponded with Sir William Hooker, sending plants 

 to Kew, and with Dr. J. E. Gray, to whom he forwarded a 

 series of mammals, birds, reptiles, and mollusca for the Natural 

 History Museum. H^e helped to form the Royal Society of 

 Tasmania. There is at Kew a coloured crayon drawing of him, 

 artist uncertain. Bust, face three-quarters to the right; I4^in. 

 by lo^in." (" Kew Catalogue of Portraits of Botanists." 1906, 

 p. 56.) 



F.L.S.. 1850; F.R.S., 1854; R.S.C. iii., 1887; '• Journ. 

 Bot.,"' 1881, 192; " Proc. Linn. Soc," 1881-2. 63; 

 Lasegue. 283; Hooker. "Flora Ta:.mania," cxxv. ; 

 " Proc. R. Soc." xxxiv. (1883), xiii. ; '* Diet. Nat. Biog.," 

 xxiii., 342 (6). 



