THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



wandered over the treeless bald top of the mount, little thinking, 

 as we afterwards learned (Lendenfeld, " An Exploration of the 

 Victorian Alps," Reports of Mining Registrars, Victoria, March, 

 1886) that we were traversing one of the oldest land surfaces on 

 the earth. The panorama from the cairn was magnificent, and 

 surely must be hard to beat in Australia. Mountains of all sizes 

 and shapes in every direction. The peculiar peaks of Mount 

 Buffalo away to the north-west at once attracted attention, while 

 the bold mass of Mount Kosciusko was plainly visible about 75 

 miles away to the north-east. What must have been the feeling 

 of our late patron, then Dr. F. Mueller, when he stood on this 

 mount nearly fifty years before, the first white man to tread its 

 grassy top and gather specimens of its singular alpine flora. 



Round about us grew the rare umbellifer, Aciphylla glacialis, 

 F. V. M., and the pincushion-like patches of the Victorian 

 Edelweiss, Leontojiodium catipes, F. v. M. ; but what a tiny 

 flower in comparison to the European Edelweiss, the delicate 

 daisy-like headlets only about j^V of an inch across. The wind 

 was very boisterous on top of the mount, and made collecting 

 very unpleasant ; we therefore made our way down the southern 

 slope to the highest source of the Dargo, trying to find a sheltered 

 spot in which to boil our billy, but finally had to make for the 

 spring we had visited in the morning. Near the higher spring we 

 collected Epacris heteronema, Lab., Slyphelia montana, F. v. M., 

 and Brachycome nivalis, F. v. M. Fine patches of Oxylobium 

 alpestre, F. v. M., grew around on the hillsides, brightening the 

 scene with its orange flowers. Among other plants collected in 

 this vicinity were Cardamine dictyosperma, Hooker ; Epilobium 

 glabeUicm, L. (very fine specimens) ; also Epacris mucronidata, 

 R. Br. ; Slyphelia macraei, F. v. M. ; and Gnaphalium alpigenum, 

 F. v. M., all N.E. plants. 



We returned to the hospice late in the afternoon, thoroughly 

 pleased with our first visit to the Victorian Alps, greatly regretting 

 that our brief holiday would not allow of further exploration 

 round about. The rocky pinnacle of Mt. Smyth close at hand, or 

 the deep gorge of the Wongungarra on the Gippsland side of St. 

 Bernard, seemed to ofter opportunities to the botanical collector, 

 but we could not avail ourselves of them. The evening was again 

 spent in arranging the plants, and as we had to leave soon after 

 daylight in the morning, in order to catch the coach from Harriet- 

 ville at 9 a.m., it was necessary to make up our packages as far 

 as possible overnight. 



Leaving the hospice at the early hour of 5.30 a.m., we had a 

 glorious walk down the road, but our packages were heavy and 

 needed frequent adjustment, and little could be done in the way 

 of collecting, except to secure a few seed specimens of shrubs 

 as we passed. These were principally acacias, including A. 



