144 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



It is pleasing to be able to state that at last the Gorge, mainly 

 throLigli the exertions of Mr. F. L. Billinghurst, has been 

 recognized by the people of Bacchus Marsh as a valuable asset 

 of their district; and as the Minister of Lands has promised to 

 supplement the sum raised by them for making an easier 

 approach to this remarkable spot, which it is intended to proclaim 

 a National Park, it is hoped that the work will be taken in hand 

 at an early date. It is also proposed to make a good track well 

 into the Gorge, and to show the interest of this Club in the 

 matter, your committee has voted a donation of two guineas to 

 the Improvement Fund. — F. G. A. Barnard. 



VICTORIAN PLANT RECORDS. 

 By Alfred J. Ewart, D.Sc, Ph.D., F.L.S. 



{Read lefore the Field Naturalists^ Chih of Victoria, 8th Oct., 1907.) 



In a previous short note it was pointed out that a large amount 

 of erroneous or unnecessary recording of native plants as new to 

 Victoria had taken place, and in the present paper similar 

 instances are included in regard to naturalized introduced plants. 

 The chief sources of information in regard to naturalized plants 

 are Bentham's " Flora," Mueller's " Key to Victorian Plants," and 

 a list published by Reader in the Journal oj Pharmacy for 18S7. 

 In the case of the two latter lists former records are naturally 

 included, although unfortunately without any record of their 

 origin, so that it is difficult to distinguish the new from the old. 

 In many cases, however, what purport to be new records of 

 plants as naturalized have appeared in the Victorian Naturalist, 

 although older records recognizing the plants in question as 

 definitely naturalized were extant. Such duplicate recording 

 is naturally apt to cause confusion, ana hence a comprehensive 

 list is in preparation, giving the earliest record for each introduced 

 plant as naturalized. In tiie meantime a list is given of duplicate 

 or erroneous records, so that these can be omitted in most cases at 

 least from the final list. A few erroneous records are due to wrong 

 naming, and this has in some cases caused an introduced plant 

 not to be recognized as such. Thus Bromus ■madrite7isis, L., 

 was correctly recorded by Mr. Reader as a naturalized introduced 

 plant in the Vict. Nat., vol. xix., p. 124, but a specimen of it 

 received from Mr. Walter (Wimmera, 1887) was labelled Aristida, 

 Behriana, F. v. M., a native grass to which it bears an external 

 resemblance, and with which it appears to have been largely con- 

 fused. Again, Agrostis alba, L., recorded as native in Benth., FI., 

 vol. vii., p. 576, 1878, has been recorded as naturalized in the 

 Journal of Pharmacy, 1887, and in the Vict. Nat., vol. xxii., p. 

 79, 1905, while Spergularia media, Vict. Nat., vol. xiii., p. 103, 



