104 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 
Reef), lat. 22° IT S., and long. 155° 13' E., in August, 1803 (see below, 
p. 205). In September Brown writes to Banks* : — 
The loss of the garden and specimens is to my department irreparable, for altho’ 
1 possess duplicates of almost all the specimens, yet those sent were far the best, 
belonging to the South Coast, and in consequence the most valuable that have 
been collected during the voyage. I trust Captain Flinders’ report of the safety 
of the seeds are correct, for of them I have no duplicates. 
In this letter be deals with the native bear (Coola), platypus, and 
other zoological subjects. The duties of Brown were to collect and 
make observations in zoology as well as botany. 
As regards geology, see — 
An account of some geological specimens, collected by Captain P. P. King, 
in his Survey of the Coasts of Austraha, and by Robert Brown, Esq., on the Shores 
of the Gulf of Carpentaria, during the Voyage of Captain Flinders, by William 
Henry Fitton, M.D., &c. Read before the Geological Society of London, 4th 
November, 1825.f 
The rock specimens collected on this (Flinders’) survey (by Brown) were 
reported on by Dr. Fitton in 1825, but nothing was done beyond their enumeration 
and the indication of their agreement with those of the same denomination from 
other parts of the world, no attempt having been made to chronologically arrange 
them. Others collected by Brown during his sojourn in New South Wales were 
reported on by Dean Buckland in 1821, hereafter referred to.J 
Writing to Banks from Kent’s Group, Bass Straits, 30th December, 
1803,§ Brown reports his presence there and again alludes to the 
collections sent by the wrecked “ Porpoise ” on Wreck Reef. He 
adds — “ Kent’s Group has afforded very httle — twelve new plants, 
and nothing new and interesting in any other part of natural history.” 
He wrote to Colonel Paterson, Lieut. -Governor, from Sullivan Cove 
(Hobart), River Derwent, 4th March, 1804' , that after leaving Kent’s 
Group he went to Port Dalrymple (Launceston) “ which we reached 
on the 1st of January (1804); there we remained till the 18th, which 
gave me sufficient time to examine its shores and to make a few 
excursions into the country From Port Dalrymple we 
had a short passage to Port Phillip, where we staid but a few days. 
It being determined to remove the colony to the Derwent, and the 
Lady Nelson being detained to carry the settlers, I remained in her, 
and after a passage of ten days, anchored in Risdon Cove.” He also 
states : — 
“ The whole number of plants observed in this port did not much 
exceed 300, of which about 40 were new to me, and I believe nonde- 
script.” 
He says that he has been twice up Mount Wellington, and believes 
he has forty new species, and some of them are very singular. It is 
not clear whether this is a second forty. 
* Uitit. Rec. V. 227. 
t Reprinted in " Narrative of a Survey, &c.,” by Captain P. P. King, ii, 566-630. 
i Tate in Proc. Aust. Adv. SH., v, 5. 
S Hist. Rec., v, 284. 
II Ib., 343. 
