go [Septuiaber, 



very boggy, and demanded constant attention ; these bogs constitute 

 the chief difficulty of the ascent. I and my horse came down heavily 

 once, owing to a concealed hole ; but this was our only misadventure. 

 The swampy ground was invariably overgrown with dense heathy 

 scrub, and haunted by numerous Geometrcd ; also, as I w^as assured, by 

 snakes, but we saw none. 



A large herbaceous Veronica., with spikes of purplish-white blos- 

 som, grew in masses, from amongst which we disturbed numerous 

 specimens of Platyi^tilia emissalis. I obtained also two examples of 

 a very large new Crambid, of the genus which in Australia replaces 

 Cramhus. At 6500 feet I took a single worn specimen of the cosmo- 

 politan, Mecyna polj/gonalis. Above this height the trees, which had 

 become very stunted, ceased entirely. The granite hills which form 

 the crest of the mountain, though sometimes broken and rocky, are 

 mostly covered with a perfect smooth sward of short grass and silvery- 

 leaved Composite, grazed over by troops of wild horses. 



The shrubby vegetation of the lower plateaux is unable to maintain 

 itself towards the summit, which is covered with snow nine months in 

 the year. At the time of our visit the snow was confined to large 

 patches, in positions where it lies scores of feet deep in winter. The 

 day was clear, and from the summit we had an uninterrupted view of 

 over 100 miles in every direction ; northward up the valley of the 

 Murray, which rises from a deep ravine of the mountain ; southward 

 over the tractless ranges of Gippsland, across the Victoria border ; 

 eastward to the distant Pacific. Several specimens of a large Pieris, 

 which I could not capture, passed us on the summit, but I think they 

 were the common P. Aganippe. I had half hoped to discover some 

 form allied to Erehia, such as occurs in the New Zealand mountains, 

 but saw no trace of anything of the kind ; though I believe a month 

 later there would be a better chance. Diligent search on the highest 

 ground only procured two specimens of Lepidoptera, both of new 

 species; one a Conceca (a genus allied to Talceporia), of which the 

 larva is doubtless a ease-bearer and lichen-feeder ; the other a small 

 Copsyra ((Ecophoridce) ; both these being of familiar Australian types. 

 A species of Curculionidce was common on the blossoms of the peculiar 

 Alpine umbellifer, AciphylJa glacialis, whose leaves resemble those of 

 a fan-palm in miniature. This was the only beetle w^hich I observed 

 commonly on the mountain, though I could not spare time to search 

 specially for them ; my other captures consisted only of a few very 

 small Geodephaga and CurculionidcF. Of Hymenoptera I saw none. 



