13 



and more stunted, and the open is covered with a thick sward 

 of tussock grass, at times quite dense and from six to eight 

 inches in height. Where the ground is not swampy and sour, 

 it yields splendid pasturage, particularly for cattle. Only now 

 and again some of the pretty alpine Mowers are met with, mostly 

 Gentians (G. montana) and Heliochrysums. The Celmisias, of 

 which large patches are found, like many other alpine plants 

 were past flowering, and had already shed their seeds. I managed 

 to collect the seeds of about a dozen kinds, mostly Coinpositic. On 

 the whole with such a bleak day as we had, and at the time of 

 the year, the higher parts of the ranges did not look very attractive. 

 Much of the almost desert-like look was undoubtedly caused 

 through the flring which had been cari'ied on to an unusual extent 

 during the long dry summei'. On every peak half burned and 

 dead scrub stared us in the face. We reached Mt. Townsend 

 about half-past eleven, and Mt. Kosciusko an hour later. 



Mt. Townsend is easily accessible, and in a northerly direction 

 is connected with Mt. Clarke by a saddle. By turning to the 

 left from Mt. Clarke over another saddle ]Mt. Kosciusko, or, as 

 called by Pr. Lendenfeld, " Mueller's Peak," is reached. This 

 peak, surmounted by a large cairn, affords a tine view and is 

 the most frequently visited. It is somewhat surprising there- 

 fore that the error in Townsend's map of this interesting part 

 has not been rectifled (unless it has been done quite recently). 

 I regretted very much that I had left Dr. Lendenfeld's Report 

 at the camp, and tlierefore could not compare the map on the 

 spot and correct it, which I would not care to do from memory. 

 The error is that the Snowy River is made to flow from the 

 saddle connecting Mt. Clarke with Mt. Kosciusko, whilst in 

 reality it is plainly seen to flow into the Murray from the peak. 

 Mt. Clarke on the contrary coiniects in a northei'ly direction 

 by various lower peaks and saddles with the " Big Boogong," 

 a very prominent mountain di\'iding the Snowy and Murray 

 waters. 



I was very desirous to obtain specimens of Natural History 

 from these high elevations, but owing no doubt to the cold 

 weather nothing was visible. Over the liighest waterhole of 

 Australia (7,000 feet altitude), at the foot of Mt. Kosciusko, a 

 few dipterous insects were hovering, of which I secured about 

 half-a-dozen, and in a pool a little lower in Wilkinson's Valley 

 1 found two species of frogs in a young state. Besides these 

 only several kinds of seeds were collected here. The absence 

 of Galaxias at this elevation struck me as peculiar. It is, 

 however, remarkable that on the Snowy River side these tishes 

 are met with almost everywhere. 



From Mt. Kosciusko we somewhat retraced our steps through 

 Wilkinson's Valley, and leaving Mt. Townsend on our right 



