158 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. I Vol. XXV. 



regretfully to put it out of my mind, it being quite out of the 

 question for a one-day trip. 



Meanwhile, having one precious afternoon to spare, it was to 

 decide whether to spend it at Mario, at the mouth of the river, 

 among the coast plants, or in a visit to the one piece of original 

 jungle yet remaining on the further bank of the river, about six 

 miles down. Mr. J. Rowe, an old resident, and long interested 

 in the local flora, whose name was familiar to me as the collector 

 of specimens received from Mr. H. B. Williamson, having kindly 

 offered to accompany me to the latter place, the question was 

 settled. Crossing the bridge, the delightful prospect down the 

 river was again admired, the gums, willows, Eugenia Smithii, 

 Acacia melanoxylon, and A. decurrens fringing the banks making, 

 with their varied shades of green, a most charming picture. On 

 the way the road keeps close to the river, with wide, bare flats on 

 the other side, and occasional huge two-storied barns, through 

 the boards of which could be seen the corn cobs harvested in the 

 previous season. 



As we go the valley narrows, and at last the high ground 

 closely approaches the river, and ends in a low ridge known as 

 the Devil's Backbone ; it is between this and the river that the 

 jungle has been left more or less undisturbed. Mr. Rowe 

 informed me that the strip is reserved, but right in the middle of 

 it some neighbouring land-owner has cleared and cultivated a 

 patch. Although there is doubtless other similar scrub existing 

 on the Brodribb and other rivers to the east of the Snowy, it 

 seems very desirable that this piece, being at ])resent the most 

 accessible, should be preserved from further encroachment. 



The first plant of interest met with was JSmilax Australia, a 

 stout, woody climber, armed with unmistakable prickles, and 

 bearing globular black berries and umbels of many minute 

 greenish-white flowers. Very soon an almost impenetrable tangle 

 of vegetation bounded the track. The foundation or framev,^ork 

 of the jungle appeared to comprise comparatively few species. 

 Eugenia Smithii, Acacia melanoxylon, Hymenanthera Banksii, 

 Pittosporum undulatum (in full bloom), and Panax aamhucifolius 

 were most prevalent, with occasional other shrubs, such as 

 Hedycarya Cunninghami, Acacia longi/olia, and Pomaderris 

 apetala. Among these, and rioting luxuriantly, were a round 

 dozen of lianes, and beneath in the shade that fine fern Adiantum 

 Jormosum, with glossy black stems standing up quite two feet 

 high, had the field almost to itself. 



Of the lianes, Clematis aristata, covering square yards of the 

 tree-tops with its snowy efflorescence, and Tecoma Australis, the 

 only widely spread member of the Bignoniacese, its masses of 

 creamy-white purplish-dotted flowers making a magnificent show, 

 were by far the most noticeable. Kubus parvifolius and P. 



