130 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 



the party turned their attention to geology, under the able 

 guidance of Mr. A. E. Kitson, and wended their way up Scotch- 

 man's and Backstairs Creeks to a tunnel in the hillside, with a 

 miniature battery alongside, known as the Evans Reward mine, 

 romantically situated, with a background of tree-ferns. Here we 

 went the length of the tunnel, some 170 feet, and inspected the 

 face, obtaining samples of the decomposed granite of which the 

 payable portion consisted. A dish of this was afterwards washed 

 off, and yielded a nice little sample of gold. We then went 

 further up the hill to the Old Warburton road, which we followed 

 to the site of the old sluicing works on the hill called " Little Joe," 

 carried on in the early sixties. The gulch washed out is now 

 filled with trees and shrubs, and is a sort of concentrated 

 botanical museum of the district, and there the fern collector can 

 get seedlings of all kinds in abundance. We were astonished to 

 find trees 40 to 50 feet high growing in the bottom of the cutting, 

 and on the hillside we were shown fine trees at least 2 feet in 

 diameter which have grown up during the last 40 years. Signs of the 

 scratching of Lyre-birds were noted in the bottom of the cutting. 

 Samples of the highly coloured clays, &c., occurring in the walls 

 of the gulch were secured, as well as a number of fern seedlings, 

 and then we returned down the eastern side of the valley. This 

 locality, as reported last year (Vict. Nat., xxi., 136), is un- 

 doubtedly the best all-round locality for the field naturalist at 

 Warburton, and we greatly regretted we had not longer time to 

 devote to its exploration. Two additional ferns were noted here, 

 Pteris argnta (tremula) and P. falcata, making thirty-six now 

 noted for the district, which list could probably be increased by 

 further search. Fine specimens of the orchid Caladenia 

 carnea were plentiful, and numerous planarian worms were 

 collected from under the fallen logs. After lunch at the hotel 

 it was time to pack up and catch the afternoon train for 

 town. On our way down so many queries were put to our 

 geological member that the journey seemed to pass more quickly 

 than it really did, and we parted at our various suburban stations 

 thoroughly satisfied with our three days on the Upper Yarra. 

 As an example of the difference in the seasons, it may be men- 

 tioned that last year the Black Wattle, Acacia moUissima, was in 

 full bloom about Woori Yallock and elsewhere, this year the buds 

 only were to be seen ; last year the Tecoma was over, this 

 year it was in full bloom ; now Leptospermum scoparium did 

 not seem to have a single beetle feeding on it, while a few 

 Painted Ladies were the only butterflies seen. 



I am indebted to members of the party for the following 

 additional results of the excursion. — F. G. A, Barnard, 



The following are the more important Coleoptera noted by Mr, 

 J. A. Kershaw, F.E.S. : — Notonomus besti, SI., N. peroni, Castel., 



