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ON THE FLORA OF MT. WILSON. 

 By Alex. G. Hamilton. 



Mount Wilson, Pai'ish of Irvine, County of Cook, is about 5 

 miles as the crow dies fi'om Bell Station, on the Great Western 

 Line (83 miles from Sydne}'). The road from Bell jmsses along 

 tlie old stock route known as Bell's Line for 5 miles, and from 

 the point where it diverges from Bell's Line to the Zigzag, which 

 leads up to the summit, is 4 miles. 



The highest point is 3,388 feet a])Ove the sea, but as the 

 mountain rises from a ridge or table-land, it does not show as a 

 very conspicuous peak. From the lowest point of the Zigzag to 

 the summit, the rise is 275 feet. Seen from the railway line, Mt. 

 Wilson appears as a long hog-backed ridge. 



It is topographically a very well defined floral district, as it is 

 bounded by the Wollongambe (a tributary of the Colo), and the 

 Bowen, which flows into the Wollongambe. As the head waters 

 of two tributaries of these sti-eams rise within half a mile of each 

 other, on opposite sides of a narrow ridge, the mountain is almost 

 entirely enclosed by the two streams. 



The higher part of the ridge is narrow, the level or compara- 

 tively level part being nowhere more than 400 yards across, and 

 in most places it is much less. It is remarkable that the spurs 

 from the main range are usually much wider than the range 

 itself. The general direction is a little north of east, but there 

 are two maiii spurs, one running nearly east and the other almost 

 west, causing a wide separation of the Wollongambe and the 

 Bowen at this place. 



The mountain is one of a group of five — Mt. Wilson, Mt. King 

 George, Mt. Tomah, Mt. Hay, and Mt. Bell — which are all 

 capped with basalt. The basalt overlies the Hawkesbury Sand- 

 stone ; and it is believed that the cappings on the summits 



