173 



The above was part of a letter to Mr. James Britten of the British Museum, 

 in 1907. 



As a final attempt to definitely ascertain what the old British Museum botanists 

 had written about the genus, I wrote in 1923 to Dr. A. B. Rendle, F.R.S., Keeper of 

 Botany at the British Museum, and following is his reply : — 



" As regards MSS. of Eucalyptus of the older botanists, I find that the Solander MSS. include 

 nothing on the genus ; of Brown we have a number of rough descriptions made (in Latin) at the time of 

 collecting. ... In any case I think you would find them of little use without the specimens, of which 

 they are more or less incomplete descriptions. Frankly, I do not think it would be worth the labour of 

 copying, especially as it would have to be done by a person with a knowledge of both Latin and botany." 



The National Herbarium of New South Wales is under deep obligation to both 

 Mr. Britten and Dr. Rendle for valuable information and specimens. After consultation 

 with botanists in this and some other States, I have stated the position as to the work 

 of early botanists on Australian plants, so far as I know it. The matter is now closed 

 so far as I am concerned, and I am grateful to Mr. Britten and Dr. Rendle. 



George Caley, one of the Banksian botanical collectors, was in New South Wales 

 from 1800-10 (under Brown's direction till 1804). Some account of him will be found 

 in my " Sir Joseph Banks," p. 127. At p. 130 will be found details of his journey to 

 the Cowpastures, Nattai, Stonequarry Creek, &c. There is a note at p. 133 on the 

 pile of stones erroneously called " Caley's Repulse," but he was never on the Blue 

 Mountains proper. He went up the valley of the Grose (from its confluence with the 

 Nepean) to Grose's Head (a name given by Caley himself) and beyond. See under 

 E. eximia, Part XLII, p. 30. He collected abundantly in the County of Cumberland, 

 particularly in the Parramatta district. 



Willdenow, " Species Plantarum " (1797) and Persoon Synopsis Plantanmi 

 (1807), both followed Smith's list of species of 1797. 



Sprengel's " Systema Vegetabilium " (16th edition) was published in 1826, and 

 vol. ii, p. 500, in 1825. He enumerates twenty-four species, grouped according to the 

 conical or hemispherical operculum. 



Concerning Turczaninow (a Russian botanist, who purchased a set of Drummond's 

 Western Australian plants), the following is a note in the Kew copy of the third volume 

 of Bentham's "Flora Australiensis " : — "For seventy-seven species (of Myrtacese) 

 omitted from this work, see Turczaninow in Bull. Phys. Mathem. Acad. Sc, St. Petersb. 

 x, p. 321 (1852)." 



