THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 109 



enables them to withstand a great weight of snow and bend with- 

 out breaking, but in the lower country it is otherwise. 



Last June, in company with JMr. K. M. M'Kenzie and Mr. 

 Glen Lewis, I was enabled to visit the Blue Ranges, near 

 Taggerty, after a heavy fall of snow. These ranges, about 3,500 

 feet above sea level, seldom have snow on them, and I was told 

 by local residents that none had fallen on them in any quantity 

 during the last seven years. They were covered with fair-sized 

 eucalyptus trees, wattles, and other vegetation, with occasionally 

 large bosses of dacite. We ascended one of the spurs, and when 

 about three-quarters of the way up snow was first encountered. 

 It lay on the ground about four inches deep, and bent down the 

 heads of the tough bracken fern, and as we rested for a time we 

 heard the beautiful clear notes of the Lyre-birds, Menura superba, 

 in the deep gullies on either side of us. 



As we ascended the snow gradually became deeper, and the 

 ferns and other vegetation on the ground were entirely covered 

 with a beautiful snowy mantle. When about 3,000 feet up snow 

 was noticed on the trees, lying along the surface of the larger 

 branches, and as we ascended it gradually became more plentiful, 

 not only covering the tops of all the branches, both large and 

 small, but also enveloping the bunches of leaves, so that as they 

 hung down they had the appeal ance of huge white blossoms. 

 The trees at the top of the range were practically covered with 

 snow, for on one side the trunks, right up from the ground, as 

 well as the branches and leaves, were enshrouded in white, and 

 when the sun shone out the scene was indescribably beautiful 

 and dazzling. The photographs, however, fail to do justice to 

 the beauty of the scene 



But what a scene of desolation, as far as the trees were con- 

 cerned, as the weight of snow held by the large bunches of 

 drooping leaves had in most cases proved too much for the 

 branch, and it had broken, giving the appearance of someone 

 having climbed up the trees and cut each of the branches with a 

 tomahawk on the upper side, so that they had fallen and hung by 

 the splinters. There did not seem to be a tree but what had the 

 greater number of its branches broken in this manner, thus 

 being practically ruined. The ground also was covered with 

 fallen green branches ; some were lying on the surface, but the 

 greater number were buried in the snow. Later on in the year, 

 when the snow has all melted and the broken branches dried, the 

 forest will have a very desolate appearance, with the ground 

 covered more or less with dead branches and many of the trees 

 dead also. 



It was curious to see the effect the snow had on the young 

 Wattle trees (Acacias). There were groups of them, of various 

 sizes, up to about 15 feet high. The gradual accumulation of 



