\f':^\ DAt-EY.Af IVar/ook (Grampians): 143 



some less showy plants with its twining bloom. Quite close 

 to the track we flushed a Yellow Robin from its nest with two 

 eggs. Passing on, we obtained a partial view of the Victoria 

 Valley, to the south-west. 



Before reaching the crest we passed through a thicket of 

 somewhat stunted Hickory Wattle, A. penninervis, in appear- 

 ance like the Golden Wattle, but stiffer, less verdant in leaf, 

 and less prolific and graceful in flowers, which lack the rich 

 golden appearance of Acacia pycnantha. Correa speciosa, both 

 green and red in hue, was frequently seen. In a swampy 

 patch the Pink Swamp Heath, Sprengelia incarnata, was con- 

 spicuous in relief amid a profusion of Beard Heaths, reeds, 

 rushes, and spear-grass. The Nodding Blue Lily, Stypandra 

 glauca, also adorned the more rocky places. 



The character of the country alters beyond this ridge, for 

 the massive, thick-bedded sandstones of which the Grampians 

 mainly consists, now definitely ascribed by Mr. F. Chapman, 

 A.L.S., on palaeontological evidence to the Lower Carboniferous 

 series, have a westerly dip at rather low angles, thus giving 

 an easy gradient in that direction, whilst eastwards the beds 

 culminate in the bold, vertical, and lofty cliff-faces abruptly 

 marking the disintegrating summits of the parallel ranges. 

 Thus, from the Mount Difficult Range — in strong contrast to 

 the rugged eastern slopes — the surface westward is seldom 

 much broken by outstanding rock-masses unless in some bold 

 gorge carved out by water action, such as that of the Mac- 

 kenzie River, where a very rapid and precipitous descent occurs 

 in the river bed. After crossing the Divide a very gradual 

 slope, intersected by runnels of clear water beset with rushes 

 and tea-trees, with vigorous specimens of the Flat Cord Rush, 

 Reslio complanatus, is met with, the water providing welcome 

 and periodic refreshment to thirsty travellers, as well as to 

 our pack-horse, whose regulation pace of two miles per hour 

 we had sometimes to accelerate. Sprengelia grew freely, and 

 fine specimens of the Leafless Bitter Pea, Daviesia brevifolia, 

 with unusually deep red flowers. The Brown Spurge, Amperea 

 spartioides, was growing well, also the Bulbous Fringe Lily, 

 Thysanotus tiibcrosiis. At one point a patch of considerable 

 extent was visible, covered solely with the Grass-tree, 

 Xanthorrhoea australis. It was noticed that Acacia verticillata 

 and A. jiiniperina have here a tendency to assume a dwarfish 

 habit, a circumstance previously mentioned by Mr. J. W. 

 Audas in a paper read to the Club. Occasionally a splash of 

 bright red colouring on some of the younger eucalypts was, 

 on examination, found to be caused by fasciation, and on 

 Acacias by the prevalence of bunches of imitative galls. 



A first view of the lake is obtained from a distance of about 



