114 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



recommended by Professor Spencer to visit. Woombye is a 

 beautiful place, teeming with vegetation, and is the home of 

 palms, Staghorn Ferns, Rifle and Regent Birds, &c. ; I saw two 

 of the latter, both young ones. This must be a veritable paradise 

 for the naturalist. In the scrubs about Woombye the Whipstick 

 Palm, Kentia monostachya, grew in profusion, but failed, in my 

 opinion, to equal the magnificent tree ferns in our own gullies. 

 The Lawyer Palms (Calamus) are common here, and may be 

 seen climbing up to the tops of the trees in the jungle. Here, 

 too, are immense clusters of Staghorn Ferns, and these, together 

 with epiphytal orchids of the genus Cymbidium, &c, were 

 perched high up in the forks of the trees. The Wonga Pigeon 

 is not uncommon here — the whole being, as I have before 

 remarked, a delightful place for a naturalist. The scrub leeches, 

 however, are here in great force, while the whole place is moist 

 and teems with tropical vegetation, and which in the proper 

 flowering season must look lovely. One of the sights on this 

 line is the celebrated Glasshouse Mountain, an immense mass of 

 rock 800 or 900 feet in height, and partly cone-shaped. Some 

 of the New Zealand and South Australian delegates paid a visit 

 to the Blackall Ranges, and returned quite delighted with their 

 visit. The rare butterfly, Epinephile Rawnsleyi, is found in this 

 district, but it was too early for many insects to be about. The 

 next day we had to visit the Exhibition, where the Mining Court 

 and the exhibits from the Agricultural Department were worth 

 coming a long distance to see. Our stay in Queensland was 

 now drawing to a close, and visions of the papaw, jack-fruit, 

 custard apples, mangos, and other tropical fruits were constantly 

 introducing themselves upon us ; so, having bade adieu to our 

 kind entertainers, we left for Sydney, where we arrived after a 

 railway journey of 28 hours. 



Upon arrival in Sydney a visit was made to the Botanic 

 Gardens, where the Curator and Government Botanist, Mr. J. H. 

 Maiden, F.L.S., an old friend, received me very kindly ; and 

 great are the improvements noticeable here since my last visit. 

 I fancy the Sydney gardens must be one of the show gardens of 

 the world, as all is luxuriance and beauty, and many of the plants 

 of tropical Australia and elsewhere appear to thrive as well here 

 as at Brisbane, or even further north. The Australian Museum 

 was again visited, and I had the pleasure of meeting, for the 

 first time, Mr. R. Etheridge, F.G.S., the Curator, who kindly 

 showed me many objects of interest. I also saw Mr. A. J. North, 

 one of the oldest members of our Club, and by him was shown 

 the collection of birds, &c, with which I was greatly pleased, 

 especially with their splendid arrangement, and hardly knew 

 which to admire most — the mounted specimens or the rich type 

 collections, admirably arranged as to gradations of species, with 



