212 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



ever formed an effective barrier to the blending of eastern and 

 soutliern moUuscan forms, the magnitude of the time which has 

 elapsed since that barrier was broken down must be duly- 

 considered. In this respect evidence of the influence of such a 

 barrier miglit perhaps be better sought for in Marine Pleistocene 

 or Pliocene deposits of Victoria, Tasmania, and New South 

 Wales. Unfortunately we lack the latter, except perhaps in 

 Victoria, but no attention at all has been paid to the former from 

 this point of view. 



In the neighbourhood of our Oberon Bay camp a few fresh- 

 water and terrestrial moUusca were collected, including Uviio novce- 

 hollandice and a species of Pomatopyrgus, Laoma pictilis, and a 

 small Endodonta. 



Botany.— By A. D. Hardy, F.L.S. 



The vegetation of the National Park, in which for the purpose 

 of this report is included the half-mile strip of temporary reserve 

 along the coast, is not, from a general point of view, of economic 

 importance. The timber, except at Sealers' Cove on the east 

 coast, is not of commercial value, while there is not a sufficient 

 quantity of grazing land within practicable distance of settlement 

 to make the grass of value, except perhaps to an adjacent " run." 

 Nevertheless the Park vegetation should admirably serve the 

 purpose which the Club has in view, provided it is guarded 

 against fire. It will afford shelter and sustenance to such of our 

 animals and birds peculiar to Australia as it may be desirable to 

 protect and allow to increase. 



Roughly divided with respect to the flora, several classes of 

 country exist in the Park. The granite ridges are almost nude 

 and barren. A few stunted gums, Eucalyptus amygdalina and 

 E. ohliqua, are dotted here and there, and a few scrubby plants 

 o{ Hakea nodosa and Acacia myrtifolia are found growing close 

 up to the precipitous parts ; just the kind of places in which one 

 would look for lizards and " Parsley-fern," Cheilanthes tenuifolia, 

 of which latter, however, we did not collect a specimen. 



Of hilly, timbered country, parts of the Leonard and Latrobe 

 Ranges are types. Here the eucalyptus trees of the species just 

 mentioned, together with some Blue Gums, E. globulus, grow 

 plentifully, but to no great height or girth. In such country there 

 is not so much shrubby undergrowth as is found on similar soils 

 of other parts of the State, but herbaceous plants are fairly 

 numerous in some and plentiful in other parts of it. 



On granite sand derived from the mountain rocks hard by, and 

 also on dune sand, grow the so-called " honeysuckles,'"' Banksia 

 marginata, B. serrata, and B. integrifolia, and, at somewhat 

 higher elevations, B. collina. On the low, sandy undulations 

 fine groves of Banksia mingle with the larger Grass-tree, Xanthor- 



