63 



Mr. Baeuerlen, in correspondence with me, confidently asserted it at a time when I felt 

 myself unable to definitely commit myself to an opinion without further evidence than 

 I then possessed." (Maiden, 1904, p. 302.) 



It is not easy for the present generation to understand the position of the younger 

 botanists in the earlier eighties, hi regard to Mueller's attitude concerning hybridisation. 

 He had been writing on Eucalypts for thirty years, had described many new species, 

 was the assistant of Bentham in regard to the " Flora Australiensis," was the author 

 of " Eucalyptographia," but was most sensitive to what he termed " opposition," or, 

 as we would call it nowadays, " free inquiry." He was most autocratic, and had 

 founded and was in charge of the Melbourne Herbarium, in which were thousands of 

 types and critical plants. When 6ne day in October, 1885, I broached the subject to 

 him in his private house, I was a little surprised at the vehemence with which he told 

 me he almost did not believe in hybridisation in the genus, and then read me a homily 

 on loyalty, i.e., the impropriety of holding opinions different to his own. This 

 interview had the effect of causing me to drop the subject, at all events within the 

 hearing of Australia's benevolent botanical autocrat. 



Naudin, 1883. — The late M. Charles Naudin, of Antibes, southern France, 



distinguished both for his researches on hybridisation in plants and for work on the 



cultivated forms of Eucalyptus, was a correspondent of Mueller, and he distinctly 



states (" Memoire sur les Eucalyptus introduits dans la Region Mediterraneenne," Ann. 



des Sciences Naturelles, 6e serie, Bot. t. xxv, 337-430 (1883), p. 355 (quoted by me as 



" 1st Mem.") that the latter does not believe in hybridisation in Eucalyptus : — ■ 



M. le baron Midler nc croit pas a. Fhybridation dans les Eucalyptus, cependant il existe des formes 

 si parfaitement intermediaires entre des especes acceptees par tous les botanistes, qu'on ne peut 

 guere douter qu'il ne s'y forme des Eybrides, comme dans tant d'autres genres, les Saules et les Rosiers 

 par exemple. (Maiden, 1904, p. 299.) 



My readers are invited to peruse more extended notices of the work of Naudin 

 and Trabut from my paper in question, pp. 299-300, in the direction of promoting a 

 knowledge of hybridisation in the genus. 



It is, indeed, to the French that we owe full statements in regard to the question. 

 Cordier was the pioneer amongst these ; Naudin later on adduced valuable evidence, and 

 demonstrated it, while Trabut submitted overwhelming evidence. The French 

 botanists planted long lines of Eucalypts in Algeria, and as they grew, flowered and 

 fruited and shed seed, it became easy to see, when their progeny flowered and fruited, 

 that some of them possessed obvious intermediate characters derived from their parents 

 alongside. When I saw buds and fruits of E. gomphocomuta from trees adjacent to 

 E. gomphocephala and E. cornuta, and noticed their intermediate character, the last 

 trace of doubt as to hybridisation in the genus passed from my mind. Having quoted 

 Naudin briefly, let me quote Trabut, who gives a condensed historical sketch. 



Trabut, 1917.— Dr. L. Trabut, Bull, de la Station de Recherches Forestieres Nord 

 de VAfrique (Alger), tome i, p. 140 (1917). The paper contains an admirable resume 

 of the history of the work of French botanists. 



