192 Excursion to Healesville. [^"^Feb'^^' 



natural forces — the one endeavouring to clothe and the other 

 to bare the surface. The outer edge next the creek bore 

 evidence of desiccation where mats of moss had dried and blown 

 off and where the lichen was renewing its work ; but in towards 

 the hill, where the rock dipped downwards, it was covered with 

 an increasing depth of detritus, and eventually decomposed 

 rock, which was permanently shrub and then tree-bearing. On 

 the track near by were found a couple of plants of the orchid 

 Chiloglottis Giinnii in bloom, their tubers well beneath the 

 wooden tram rail, their stems lateral, till the leaves were able 

 to assume a normal position on the line. This orchid was also 

 seen in a seeding state on the trunks of the tree-ferns. The 

 small form of Viola hederacea figured also as an epiphyte. This 

 little plant has two distinct forms — here one grows in mats, 

 thickly covered with pale blue and white flowers on short 

 peduncles ; the other, more scattered and sometimes in the 

 middle of a mat, with large leaves and bluer flowers on long 

 peduncles. The intergrowth disposes of the theory that the 

 difference is due to better soil, water supply, or light. One 

 feels often inclined to lapse in these cases to the fatalist 

 doctrine, and say they are different because they are. 



Resuming our iournej' with a hot afternoon sun shining on 

 the high road, I was asked had I any justifiable reason for 

 taking my followers in the heat when the bird and fern men 

 and Mr. Kershaw (keen on Planarians) could keep to the cool 

 avenue of the tram track. My affirmation was accepted. It 

 was worth while. The gully lay below us — a stream of tree- 

 ferns and glossy shrubs. On either slope rose the tall white 

 stems of Mountain Blue Gums, Eiicalyptus gomocalyx, whose 

 waxen leaves, from cordate to oval, or from oval to foot-long 

 lanceolate, contrasted with the shorter foliage of the white- 

 stemmed Mountain Ash, E. regnans. Here and there were 

 dotted E. amygdalina, some with broad leaves and others with 

 the pretty drooping foliage of the variety microphylla. 

 Flowering shrubs, and the wild lianes, Clematis, Tecoma, and 

 Lyonsia, varied the scene, but every now and again the 

 Alsophilas, usually scattered on the hillside, formed a group 

 or bower lovely to behold. The whole roadside was redolent 

 with perfume and bright with flowers, and from its side gushed 

 little streams of icy-cold, pure water, that proved extremely 

 welcome. A couple of miles or so above the falls is Kay's, 

 a comfortable boarding-house, and there five of our party had 

 arranged to stay the night, in order to climb Mount St. Leonard, 

 now showing above the forest, in the morning. At the 

 branching of the roads two streams join, and on the bridge we 

 parted at four o'clock. The return trip in the cool of the evening 

 was delightful, and the view of the gully more exquisite than on 



