THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 151 



former place, where it forms a small compact colony of a few 

 acres in extent. 



Mr. King procured samples of the fruit and foliage, also with 

 some difficulty a sample of the timber, which was of extreme 

 toughness. A peculiarity of the tree is that the bark forms 

 ridges, to be described as inverted flutings, extending a con- 

 siderable distance up the boles, which are probably, in the 

 largest examples, about 100 feet up to the branches, and about 

 3 feet in diameter. The bark is dehiscent from the ground 

 upwards, coming off in " clouts," thus producing markings 

 which have given rise to the local name of " mottled gum," a 

 characteristic and preferable title to that of " spotted gum," used 

 in New South Wales and applied in Victoria to Eucalyptus 

 goniocalyx. 



Mr. King is not aware of the occurrence of this tree in any 

 other part of the district. The samples collected agreed with 

 the description in the " Eucalyptographia," and also with the 

 type specimens in the " National Herbarium," which Mr. 

 Luehmann was so good as to exhibit, one being from Mount 

 Dromedary, near Bega, N.S.W. 



ASCENT OF MT. PETER BOTTE, NORTH QUEENS- 

 LAND. 



Bv D. Le Souef. 

 {Read before the Field Naturalists' 01 u b of Victoria, 8th February, 189*7.) 

 I left Melbourne on 3rd October, by the s.s. Arawatta, for 

 Cooktown, North Queensland, to endeavour to ascend Mt. Peter 

 Botte (named after the Peter Botte in Mauritius), 50 miles south 

 of that town. We reached our destination on 13th October, and 

 after a delay of two days secured two pack-horses for my luggage, 

 and a man to take charge of same, and started on foot for 

 " Wyalla," on the Bloomfield River, about 40 miles distant. 

 After going along the road for about 5 miles we came to a fine 

 bridge over the Annan River. This stream is tidal here and is a 

 large body of water ; it is reported to be the favourite haunt of 

 crocodiles, and many a beast has lost its life in crossing before 

 the bridge was built. The road was dusty, perfectly shadeless, 

 as bush fires had swept over the country, burning all the grass, 

 and also causing all the white, smooth-barked eucalyptus trees to 

 shed their leaves ; water was also scarce, and the sun very hot, 

 the coast ranges keeping off most of what little breeze there was. 

 About mid-day we arrived at theTrevetan or Black Mountains, so 

 called because the granite rocks are all covered with black lichen 

 wherever exposed to the weather. These ranges are about a 

 mile long and are composed solely of granite boulders, varying 

 considerably in size, and whatever earth or vegetation may have 



