THE VICTORIAN NATUllALIST. 9 



penninervis, Sieber, A. ammna, Wendland, A. alpina, F. v. 

 M., A. prominens, and A. vermicifltta, Cunn. Acacia alpina, 

 F. V. M., was obtained at Mt. Blowhard. We did not see any 

 grasses in bloom. We were back in Bright by midday, and late 

 in the afternoon got a conveyance to drive us out to Porepunkah, 

 from which we intended to visit Mount Buffalo. Making 

 Manfield's Temperance Hotel, within sound of the Eurobin 

 Creek, our headquarters, we were soon enjoying a dip in the 

 clear stream, and admiring the bushes of Breckea crenatifolia, 

 F. V. M., covered with sprays of beautiful white flowers, along 

 the banks of the creek — a shrub well worth trying in the 

 Botanical Gardens, if not already there. Lomatia longi/olia, 

 R. Br., was found in full bloom, as also Leptospermum atteniiatum, 

 Smith. 



Next morning during an early stroll we were delighted to find 

 growing in a boggy piece of ground only a few yards from the 

 house a splendid spike of the somewhat rare orchid, Spiranthes 

 aitstralis, Lindley, its delicate magenta and white flowers being 

 particularly attractive. Careful searcii revealed two others, but 

 not quite so fully in bloom as the first. These were carefully 

 placed in blotting paper before starting on our hill-climbing. 



The Buft'alo Mountains, which do not belong to the Alps 

 proper, were first seen and named by Hume and Hovell, on thtir 

 memorable exploring trip to Port Phillip in December, 1824. 

 This range presents greater difticulties to the tourist than the 

 Alps, and the usual route for the ascent, known as " Staker's 

 Track," is a good test of one's athletic powers. For the first 

 mile or two the track is very steep, with no reward for the 

 botanist — that is, nothing uncommon, if we except a fine specimen 

 of Bxocarpus stricta, R. Br., then bearing its pale lilac fruits, 

 just at the foot of the track. 



In about two miles we passed from the silurian to the granitic 

 formation, which was immediately marked by a change in the 

 flora. Lomatia ilicifolia, R. Br., was very fine, and at the first 

 water, one of the sources of the Buffalo Creek, we collected 

 specimens of Astrotricha ledifoUa, D. C, Hibbertia hillardieri, 

 F. V. M., Grevillea parvijlura, R. Br., and the fern Cheilanthes 

 tenuifolia, Swartz. 



'i-. The track now takes a north-westerly course for some distance, 

 finally turning up the gorge between the main range and the False 

 Buffalo, winding about between huge blocks of granite. Tracliy- 

 mene billardieri, F. v. M., was very plentiful here, and is a pretty 

 little umbelliferous shrub. A solitary specimen of the fern 

 Davallia duhia, R. Br., was noticed growing in a crevice of the 

 granite. A little further on we came to a spring, which we named 

 " Osmunda Spring," from the characteristic feature of its vegeta- 

 tion. A few hundred yards further Gleichenia ch-civala, Swariz, 



