THE VICTOKIAN NATUKALlST. 1 1 1 



NOTES OF A TRIP TO BRISBANE. 

 By C. French, F.L.S. 



(Bead before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, loth September, 



1897.) 



In the following notes, hastily put together, an attempt is made 

 to give some account of my recent trip to Brisbane, and such 

 objects of natural history which I was able to observe in the very 

 limited time I had at my disposal. I have a few photographs 

 of the scenery around Brisbane, also one of an incident which 

 occurred in connection with the Victoria regia growing in the 

 open air at the Botanical Gardens. I was unable to spare time 

 for collecting, but owing to the kindness of old entomological 

 friends in Brisbane and Sydney I was able to bring back some 

 2,000 odd specimens of insects of various kinds ; and these, or 

 a portion of them, may be seen at any time in my office. 



I left Melbourne for Sydney and Brisbane on 12th June, 

 having been chosen by the Victorian Department of Agriculture 

 to represent this colony at the Brisbane Fruit-Growers' Gon- 

 vention. Arriving in Sydney on Sunday morning at 9 a.m., 1 

 found my old friend Mr. W. W. Froggatt, Government Ento- 

 mologist for N.S.W., awaiting me. After lunch we visited the 

 Australian Museum, which, fortunately for lovers of natural 

 history, is open to the public on Sundays, the Sydney people 

 being evidently too dense to distinguish the difference (as we 

 do here) in the crime between visiting the Zoo on Sunday to 

 see a living monkey and going to the National Museum to see 

 a specimen of a similar animal who has had the misfortune V> 

 have been removed from this planet. I noticed a great change 

 in the Sydney Museum since I was there 18 years ago. The 

 change is marvellous, and the collection of specimens in spirits, 

 birds, and marine objects, to say nothing of the splendid casts 

 of snakes, will ever be remembered by me. As 1 was especially 

 anxious to see the Paradise Birds, I had to defer this pleasure 

 until my return from Brisbane ; so I will pass on to the Northern 

 railway station, at which I booked for Brisbane, arriving there at 

 midnight on the Tuesday following. 



The journey up to Brisbane is most interesting. First the 

 magnificent Hawkesbury River has to be crossed, then onwards 

 to Newcastle ; after this the gradients in the line become steeper, 

 until, at an elevation of 4,500 feet, Ben Lomond railway station 

 is reached, where the temperature may be described as freezing, 

 or next door to it. Rapidly descending, we are twice pulled up 

 by the steam brakes, and upon turning out of our sleeping cars 

 to ascertain the cause found that the "boxes'' had become 

 heated ; and after over half-an-hour had been spent with the 

 steam hose we started off again. We had not got much beyond 



