JDH sends this letter accompanying some specimens [not present] for his father, William Jackson Hooker. He discusses his monograph of Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] plants, it is a revision of WJH's papers in the BOTANICAL JOURNAL & CURTIS'S BOTANICAL MAGAZINE[?] & needs the addition of Malvaceous plants from ICONES PLANTARUM & Brown's genus Stenopetalum from De Candolle. It is to be printed in the ANNALS & Mr Taylor will send copies for Sir John Franklin, Captain [James Clark] Ross etc. JDH expects the expedition to leave VDL for the ice in Oct 1840. Discusses the need to revise his description for the ICONES PLANTARUM. JDH's collection may be extensive enough to warrant adding new VDL genera to future volumes of the FLORA BOREALI AMERICANA. JDH is now considered the naturalist to the expedition though his nominal rank is as a medical officer [assistant surgeon].
Transcript
With regard to the description for the Icones, they I fear require a revision too, for not knowing the form of punctuation to the descriptions I have not underlined the words to be printed in Italics; of several of the plates I have neither copies, descriptions or specimens, this must also fall upon your shoulders. I wish now, on that account, that I had been more careful in collecting the descriptions of all the species before leaving Glasgow. Those that are, are correct I believe.
I have lots of carefully made out mss [manuscripts] for a continuation, which will reach to the end of Rubiaceae (excluding Leguminosae which are left for Mr Bentham) but which will require the addition of a few descriptions, omitted. I shall copy it & send it & if it be worth the trouble of you adding the omitted descriptions please do so, if not, it does not matter.
I sometimes wonder, whether, on my return, my collections will be so considerable as to render it worth the while, to add new genus to the V.D.L portion as volumes etc. are added to the Fl[ora]. Bor[ealis]. Am[ericana]., if nothing is done with them before. I am, as I shall tell you in another place[,] looked upon completely as a Naturalist to
HMS "Erebus"*1
At Sea
Jan[uar]y 11th 1840
My dear father,
The accompanying are what I ought to have forwarded to you from Chatham, if I had finished them then.
The monograph of Van Diemans[sic] Land*2 plants requires a title, it is a revision of your two papers in Bot[anical] Journal & Courtis's[sic] Bot[anical] Mag[azine], with the new species added. This, I think, pretty correct, & will be quite complete if you look it over & add the descriptions of the Malvaceous plant; Icones Plantarum tables CCLXI & CCLXII & the Cruciferous plant belonging to Brown's genus Stenopetalum in. D[e] C[andolle].. Icones Plant[arum] table CCLXXVI -- If worth it, it was to be printed in the Annallls[?] & Mr Taylor promised me some copies, 20 or 30 I believe. If it meets your approbation I should like two or three copies to be sent out to me for Sir John Franklin*3 & Captain Ross*4. We shall not probably leave Van Diemans[sic] Land for the Ice till October 1840.
With regard to the description for the Icones, they I fear require a revision too, for not knowing the form of punctuation to the descriptions I have not underlined the words to be printed in Italics; of several of the plates I have neither copies, descriptions or specimens, this must also fall upon your shoulders. I wish now, on that account, that I had been more careful in collecting the descriptions of all the species before leaving Glasgow. Those that are, are correct I believe.
I have lots of carefully made out mss [manuscripts] for a continuation, which will reach to the end of Rubiaceae (excluding Leguminosae which are left for Mr Bentham) but which will require the addition of a few descriptions, omitted. I shall copy it & send it & if it be worth the trouble of you adding the omitted descriptions please do so, if not, it does not matter.
I sometimes wonder, whether, on my return, my collections will be so considerable as to render it worth the while, to add new genus to the V.D.L portion as volumes etc. are added to the Fl[ora]. Bor[ealis]. Am[ericana]., if nothing is done with them before. I am, as I shall tell you in another place[,] looked upon completely as a Naturalist to
the Expedition, more so I am happy to say than as a Medical officer which, to me is but a nominal title securing the pay accruing to the rank!
Your most affectionate son | Jos. D. Hooker [signature].
1. HMS 'Erebus' and HMS 'Terror' sailed on an expedition to the Antarctic in 1839. Hooker was the youngest of the 128-man crew in HMS 'Erebus' and assistant to Robert McCormick, the ship's Surgeon. The expedition was a great success as it allowed to confirm the existence of the southern continent and chart much of its coastline. It returned safely to England in 1843.
2. The island formerly known as Van Diemen's Land is now called Tasmania.
3. Captain Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of the Arctic. Franklin served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1837 to 1843.
4. Captain James Clark Ross (1800-1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of the Arctic. He led the expedition to the Antarctic from 1839 to 1842. He was the most experienced polar explorer of his time.
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