^. 



.BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 243 



latum, has the inflorescence of A. unijlorum, and may be diiFerent from 

 either. The other two Ceylon Acrotremas are excessively variable 

 plants; they are A. lanceolaium. Hook., of which Mr. Thwaites has 

 lately sent specimens with obtuse apices to the leaves, and which we 

 have under his numbers 253 and 26G0; and A. unljhrum, Hook., of 

 which Mr. Thwaites sends specimens with the leaves acute at the base ; 

 to this we have referred his numbers 239, 265, 693, 694, 1014, and 

 2659, several of which appear exceedingly dissimilar, but are united 

 by intermediate forms from Walker and other collectors. 



BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



■ 



Extract from the Report of Dr. Ferdinand Mueller, the 



Government Botanist of Victoria. * 



Botanic Gardens, Melbourne^ 25th June, 1855. 



Sir, — I do myself the honour of transmitting for communication to 

 His Excellency the Governor my Third General Report. 



Having received, in October, 1854, His Excellency's sanction for a 

 more extensive phytologic exploration of the Australian Alps, I left for 

 Gipps' Land on the 1st of November, 1854. 



Whilst travellins: alons: the banks of the La Trobe Eiver and the 



o ^^ — "o 



Avon, I had ample opportunities for convincing myself that an exten- 

 sive tract of that country, on account of the fertility of its soil, the 

 mildness of its climate, and the facility of clearing land there for agri- 

 culture, is undoubtedly destined to become, when the internal couunu- 

 nication there has been more facilitated, the abode of a large and pros- 

 perous population. 



Proceeding along the ranges of the Avon, which are generally bar- 

 ren, scrubby, and in many places densely timbered, I ascended Mount 

 Wellington, the most southern summit of the Australian Alps, on the 

 22nd of November, 1854, from whence I added some highly interest- 

 ing plants to our botanical collections. At the elevation of about 4000 

 feet above the sea-level, or at a subalpine altitude, a striking change is 

 perceptible in the vegetation, since the valleys and plateaus, stretching 

 from Mount Wellington to the north, and more or less westerly and 

 easterly, are \\d\ saturated with moisture, both from tbc attraction of 



