for the year 1886. xvii 



the publication of the observations made with the great 

 telescope since its erection in 1869. A difficulty, however, 

 exists concerning a good and economical method of repro- 

 ducing for publication the numerous drawings of celestial 

 objects made at the telescope, the objects requiring such 

 delicate treatment to show their nebular and cloud-like 

 character that every method of reproduction hitherto tried 

 gives pictures too hard and rough. 



BOTANICAL PROGEESS. 



Our esteemed fellow-member, Baron F. von Mueller, 

 F.R.S., reports as follows : — 



" Within the last few months the Atlas of Myoporinous 

 plants, an ordinal group almost entirely Australian, has 

 appeared. The discovery of the majority of the 76 species 

 now illustrated is traceable to the activity or impulses of my 

 department. As the ' prides of our deserts' these plants will 

 be ever memorable, and as decorative plants they will now 

 become better known as very desirable acquisitions to horti- 

 culture anywhere. With the same view of bringing under 

 fuller notice for gardening efforts the very numerous species 

 of Australian acacias, our bush}^ harbingers of the spring, an 

 inconography is now under progress, for, with the approval 

 of the Hon. Alfred Deakin, the Chief Secretary, and Minister 

 of the department of this work, two or three decades will 

 probably appear in the course of this year; and as of the rather 

 more than 300 species occurring in this part of the globe 

 hardly as yet 100 have been depictured anywhere since the 

 end of the last century, we shall have here, from the unique 

 richness of the material in our phytologic museum, ample 

 opportunities for original illustrations, without demanding 

 extra resources for the purpose, and may thus promote 

 pictorial art also amongst us in this direction. Such a work 

 should also bear on our wood and tan industries, and it 

 should also enlarge to some extent the seed trades in 

 these colonies, as even in conservatories of colder countries 



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