THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



mount got its name, for the wind seemed to rush up out of the 

 valley at a great rate, and the Snow Gums are bent over at a very 

 sharp angle with the hillside. The road used to go round the 

 Gippsland side of the mount, and was then very exposed, but a 

 new road has been cut out of the northern face, the silurian rocks, 

 here of a very slaty character, easily splitting into very thin layers. 

 On the southern slope of the mountain were growing numbers 

 of an herbaceous aster, Astei- celmisia, F. v. M., with large, hand- 

 some daisy-like white flowers and silvery leaves, forming a very 

 attractive sight. Among them grew Stackhousia linari/olia, 

 Cunn., and a few specimens of the curious umbellifer, Aciphylla 

 ylacialis, F. v. M. 



Further on a slight soakage below the road was gay with 

 Everlastings, Daisies, Blue-bells, Craspedias, &c. Passing a patch 

 of dwarf eucalypts, we came upon some fine masses of Orites 

 lancifolia, F. v. M., a proteaceous shrub restricted to the N.E., 

 bearing masses of sweet-smelling creamy-white flowers, somewhat 

 resembling a Grevillea. This was sufficiently abundant in places to 

 make patches of pale yellow on the distant hillsides. Another 

 shrub attracted us by the colour of its buds, which were of a deep 

 maroon colour, gradually becoming lighter as the flowering time 

 approached. This completely puzzled us, but we afterwards 

 learned that it was a dwarf form of Ilelichrysum rosmarini/olium, 

 Less., which we had admired so much on the road to St. 

 Bernard. 



Finally, turning a corner, the bold mass of Mount Hotham 

 loomed up before us, with a large flock of travelling sheep feeding 

 on its grassy slopes. We made a slight detour to a spring in 

 Glen Loch, one of the sources of the Dargo ; here among the 

 moist rocks were the ferns Aspidium aculeatum, Swartz, and 

 Lomaria alpina, Spreng., while around on the adjacent slopes 

 grew fine specimens of Fimelea ligustrina, Labill., Aster celmisia, 

 F. V. M., &c. A curious form of Drimys aromaiica, F. v. M., 

 grew here also. The different forms some plants assume in these 

 high regions are very confusing to the collector on his first visit. 



Returning to the road, we followed round the northern face of 

 the mountain, getting a fine view of the " Razorback," Mount 

 Feathertop, and the Diamentina Spring, the head of the Kiewa 

 River. Conspicuous among the flowering shrubs, towards the 

 summit of the mountain, was Kunzea nmdleri, Bentham, a 

 myrtaceous shrub with pale yellow flowers, growing in large 

 hummocky masses. Eriostemon inyopoi'oides, Candolle, and 

 Epacris ser2)illi/olia, R. Br., were also collected here. 



We were now within a few hundred yards of the cairn marking 

 the highest part of mountain (6, loo feet above sea-level), which 

 without the cairn would be difficult to locate, owing to the 

 slightly rounded form of the summit. Leaving the road, we 



