124 BOTANICAL INFOHMATION. 



exertions were rewarded with the discovery of the high, majestic Gre- 

 villea Victoria, and other rarities. Indications of gold have been ob- 

 served here, as well as in some parts of Gipps' Land which I subse- 

 quently visited. 



Melbour 



who was engaged during this part of the journey in collecting seeds, 



resume 



at the Botanic Gardens. 



As Mount Aberdeen offered hardly any plants of a true Alpine cha- 

 racter, I resolved to ascend Mount Buller, whose summits, at an ele- 

 vation of more than 5000 feet, are covered throughout the greater 

 part of the year with snow. Travelling quite alone since leaving the 

 Buffalo Eanges, the ascent was not accomplished without considerable 

 danger. But I was delighted to observe here, for the first time, this 

 continent's alpine vegetation, which in some degree presented itself as 

 analogous with the Alpine ¥lora of Tasmania {Ranunculus Gunnianus, 

 Eurifoinyrtus alpina, Celmisia astelifolia^ Gentiana Diemensis, Podocar- 

 pus montana, Trisetum antarctkum, etc.), and which was also by no 

 means destitute of its own peculiar species {Phebalium podocarpoides, 

 Goodenia cordlfoUa, Hovea gelida, Oxylohium alpestre, Brachycome niva- 

 lis, Anisotome glacialis, etc.). Remarkably enough, only one of these 

 exhibits any similarity to the singular subalpine forms discovered by Sir 

 Thomas Mitchell on the Australian Grampians, Mount Buller had 

 never before been scientifically explored ; and Mount Aberdeen, up to 

 this time, had not even been ascended. 



After some other less elevated mountains in the neighbourhood had 

 been also botanically examined, I resumed my journey along the Goul- 

 burn Eiver and some of its tributaries to the King Parrot Creek, where 

 I crossed the Yarra Ranges. The unusually heavy rainfall iu the 

 autumn would have frustrated any attempt to reach, as I then contem- 

 plated, the Alpine mountains of Gipps' Land, and I considered it there- 

 fore more advisable, at the already advanced season, to devote my time 

 rather to the examination of the maritime plants which are in an 

 almost equal state of development throughout the year. 



I went, accordingly, for some distance along the La Trobe Eiver, 

 to the south-eastern coast of Gipps' Land, passing some rich ravines, 

 luxuriantly filled with two species of tree-fern, AlaophUa mstralis and 

 Dicksonia antarclica ; the former of which seemingly never accompanies 

 the BicJcsonia far inland, but remains iu those valleys which slope 



