Feb., 1910.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 146 



proved to be a very comfortably arranged and commodious 

 dwelling, and by evening some 40 visitors had gathered under 

 its roof. Its position is unique, for the divide runs right through 

 the house, so that rain falling on the front verandah drains to the 

 Yea River, thence to the Goulburn and the Murray, while the 

 back part of the house sends its rainfall to the Chum Creek, the 

 Watts, and the Yarra. The name Toolangi, according to Mr. 

 Saxton, in his interesting little work, " Victoria : Place-Names and 

 their Origin," is the native word for zeal, enthusiasm, eagerness, 

 but I was told up there that it meant " plenty." If the latter be 

 the case, the question arises, plenty of what, for hills, trees, 

 streams, and birds are in plenty everywhere. Mr. Saxton has 

 given me the height of Toolangi House as 1,500 feet from 

 barometrical observations he made some time ago, but it is hard 

 to believe that Mt. St. Leonard is 1,800 feet higher, and I should 

 like to add at least a couple of hundred feet to the height of 

 Toolangi House. 



After lunch the question arose as to how to fill in the afternoon, 

 and as there was a possibility of joining a photographic party on 

 the morrow who intended visiting a myrtle gully some 7 miles 

 away, we decided to try and find the Sylvia Falls, one of the 

 beauty spots of the locality, which are some 2j^ miles away 

 in a north-easterly direction, being situated on a creek rising on a 

 northerly spur of St. Leonard. The Yea River comes within 

 about 400 yards of the house, and at this point makes its 

 nearest approach to the divide, and as at the same time it 

 cannot be more than 200 feet lower, to divert its waters into 

 the Yarra basin would not be a difficult engineering feat. Our 

 route led down to the stream, embowered in a wealth of stately 

 Silver Wattles, Acacia dealbata, with hazel, musk, lomatia, panax, 

 and other shrubs. We had hardly crossed the stream, some 15 

 feet wide, on a footbridge of two springy saplings, when one of 

 the party called attention to a lilac-flowering shrub not far from 

 the road, which in the distance seemed to be surrounded by a 

 blue haze. Quickly making for it, we were all delighted with its 

 charming appearance when viewed at closer range. It proved to 

 be one of the mint-bushes, Prostanthera melissijolia, and surely 

 may be regarded as one of the gems of the Victorian bush. 

 Needless to say the tree suffered to some extent in being robbed 

 of some of its flowering branches. Continuing on, our road 

 gradually ascended, leaving the river in dense scrub down below 

 on our right. The scrub was very thick on either hand, and in 

 it numerous birds were to be heard, and occasionally seen ; 

 among them was the Rufous Fantail. Coming to a part which 

 had been cleared, but where there were numerous tree-fern 

 stems still standing, it was interesting to note that many of them 

 were acting as hosts for other plants. Perhaps the most frequent 

 parasite was Pittosporum bicolor, often called " Cheesewood." 



