Dec, 1908.] 



THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 125 



EXCURSION TO THE YOU YANGS. 



The You Yangs have never proved a very prolific collecting 

 ground, and as the last excursion party from the Club, which 

 visited the mountains some years ago, brought back such a dismal 

 report of destruction by rabbits, our excursion committees have 

 feared to put the locality down again until the present season. 

 The day before Cup Day was so unpleasant, and the forecast for 

 Cup Day so unpromising, that those who had made up their minds 

 to take part in the excursion feared a repetition of former 

 experiences at these hills. However, when the party of ten 

 reached Little River at 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday, 3rd November, they 

 found a fresh breeze blowing from the south-west, and though the 

 horizon in that direction looked somewhat ominous, the storm 

 passed over Geelong, and only the merest trace of it reached the 

 You Yangs. 



From Litde River station the hills appear to be little more than 

 mile away, but in reality they are nearer four miles distant, and 

 more than an hour passed before we set foot on the genUe slope 

 of granite detritus with which they are surrounded. On our 

 way across the lava plain much energy had been expended in 

 turning over stones in search of beetles, but without results, 

 except some very ordinary species, and some members of the 

 cockroach tribe. A few birds were seen, but these will be dealt 

 with in a separate note, for which I am indebted to Mr. J. G. 

 O'Donoghue. 



Three species of plants are noteworthy as characteristic of the 

 You Yangs — viz., Prostanthera nivea, which should be called the 

 " Snowy Mint-bush"; the Rock or Parsley Fern, Cheilanthes tenui- 

 folia, which occurs in great patches everywhere ; and the Blue 

 Gum, Eucalyptus globulus, a species of eucalypt one would not 

 expect to find in such an exposed situation. The Prostanthera 

 was almost the first flower met with, and, though just past its best, 

 the sight it presented in places was alone well worth the trip. 

 The flowers are larger than most of our Prostantheras, and on 

 some of the bushes were of quite a lilac shade. It is also worthy 

 of remark that the plant does not appear to be inconvenienced by 

 cultivation and clearing, for in the forest plantation, where the 

 ground had been ploughed, it is again springing up; and in 

 another part, where a fire had passed through it, the bushes are 

 again branching out at the ground-level, and making good growth. 

 Some time before we reached the foot of the range the sweet 

 perfume of a wattle was borne along by the wind, and ^ on 

 reaching the slope we noted some fine trees of Acacia mollissima 

 in full bloom. Why should not such a fine blossoming tree be 

 alive with birds and insects when in that state ? But now there 

 was little life about them. An introduced shrub, Nicotiana 

 glauca, is here somewhat common, and a litde further along 



