174 AuDAS, Botanical Gleanings on. [^"^r'an^*' 



eagerly ahead to greet some well-known plants. At Sarsfield 

 the Prostanthera, which last year had covered acres of ground 

 in vivid purple, had passed its first glory, and there were now 

 only a few browning branches ; but further on the Red Box, 

 Eucalyptus polyanthemos, and Peppermint, E. amygdalina, were 

 covered with blooms, on which hundreds of Musky Parrakeets, 

 Trichoglossus concinnus, were feeding greedily. In a shady 

 glen wooded by Acacia discolor, Leptospermmn scoparium, and 

 Cassinia aculeata, the musical note of the Bell-birds or Bell- 

 miners, Manorhina melanophrys, rang out with remarkable 

 clearness, and was inexpressibly sweet to hear. These birds 

 are met with only in certain parts, as they seem to select a 

 locality, generally secluded, and take up their abode, never 

 to move away, so that one may always know where they will 

 be heard cooing their sweet notes. 



I observed in many places on the hills that Acacia oxycedrus 

 reached a height of some 15 feet. This is sufficiently unusual 

 to be remarkable, as this shrub, seen in its native element upon 

 the sea-coasts, rarely attains a height of more than two to 

 three feet, and is of somewhat procumbent habit, whereas the 

 specimens growing among these hills shot up erectly and were 

 of tree-like growth. Davicsia corymbosa grew gregariously and 

 to the unusual height of eight to ten feet, extending in orange- 

 yellow patches to the tops of the hills. Pultencea stricta, var. 

 Gunnii, was here (as often noted in other parts) infested by the 

 mite, whose depredations restrict the growth of the foliage so 

 that it frequently forms into a ball, from which the young 

 shoots branch forth whenever they remain sufficiently long 

 unmolested by the mite, and form the peculiar growth known 

 as the " witch's broom." This insect, which is a pest recently 

 intruding in Victoria, has not yet been named by the Govern- 

 ment Entomologist, and seems to be identical with one which 

 I observed particularly destructive to all the eucalypts in the 

 district round Dandenong and Beaconsfield when passing 

 through ther:=^ m September last. 



Near Bruthen, where the land had been recently cleared or 

 had been swept by a bush fire, the Black Wattle, Acacia 

 decurrens, had sprung up thickly, taking complete possession 

 of the ground, which here, as throughout the Tambo valley, is 

 of remarkable richness, and I have been informed that pear 

 and apple trees grown on it have attained a circumference of 

 over seven feet, while all citrus fruits thrive wonderfully. The 

 Spreading Acacia, Acacia diffusa, was blooming on the hills, 

 and its flowers were of such al:)undant richness as to almost 

 obscure the phyllodes ; but, although it excited admiration on 

 the bush, one would find it rather prickly to handle. Xanthorrha'a 



