128 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



Australia had been deposed from the position she once held 

 in this respect, but if that measurement could be trusted, he 

 ■did not see why she should not be re-instated. 



Baron von Mueller, in reply, said he had not had an 

 opportunity himself of obtaining any of the very large 

 measurements that stood on record, and he thought that 

 Mr. Howitt was in the best position to answer Mr. White's 

 question, because he had given them information about a 

 tree, which was stated from very reliable sources to be 415 

 feet high. In many instances the trees, the heights of which 

 had been i-ecorded, were fallen to the ground, and the 

 measurement thereof must have been correct. In the early 

 years, very little notice had been taken of the heights of 

 the trees. Trunks of immense length had been utihsed in 

 the crossings of rivers and brooks, without the trouble to 

 ascertain their length being taken. As the population 

 became larger, the lai-gest trees had disappeared, and he did 

 not think it therefore very extraordiuary to assume that 

 eucalypts attained 400 feet. 



A Member said, with reference to the dead forest 

 mentioned by Mr. Howitt, that he and his brother had come 

 across one when travelling many years ago through the 

 Gippsland District, between Port Albert and Sale. It was 

 many miles in extent, and they had been very much 

 impressed by the stiange sight, never having before in their 

 travels seen anything like it. When they camped at night, 

 their surroundings presented a most weird appearance, the 

 great white limbs of' the trees reflecting the flames of their 

 camp flres at a great distance all round. They could scarcely 

 sleep at night for the noise of falling timber. They had 

 been very much exercised in mind as to the cause of this, 

 and he was ver}' pleased to find reference made to it in Mr. 

 Howitt's paper. Various explanations had been given, but 

 this seemed a better explanation than any he had hitherto 

 heard, 



Mr. Howitt said that, as to the height of the trees, so far 

 as his own measurements were concerned, the most reliable 

 was that of a fallen eucalypt, which, as it lay on the 

 ground, measured 350 feet. The height of 415 feet, 

 mentioned by the Baron as having been given by him, was 

 given to him by several persons whom he considered reliable 

 authorities. The owner of a saw mill at the place where it 

 grew, told him that that was its height. 



