[[1]]
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.
[[2]] 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
[[3]] 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].
ENDNOTES
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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