March, 1909] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 173 



Anderson, of Captain Cook's expedition. Here the tree is 

 known as Messmate, the boon companion of our Stringy-bark, 

 E. macrorrhyncha, whose vernacular name it bears in South 

 Australia and Tasmania. Finer specimens were seen in the higher 

 land later in the day. Scattered about were several fine E. vimin- 

 alis and E. goniocalyx, their beautiful white boles in some cases 

 stained pink. The former, though the Manna Gum, had no manna, 

 but paradoxically that substance was plentifully noticed on E. 

 amygdalino.. Along the road our lepidopterist caught several nice 

 specimens of the golden-barred day moth, Agarista latinns, and by 

 the way were seen many plants easily identified but not in bloom. 

 In about 3^ miles we crossed the bridge over the Badger, and 

 close by at Sloss's farm could not but admire a group of splendid 

 Blackwoods, tall and pyramidal, ideal shade trees. We now left 

 the road and followed up the stream, examining many well-known 

 shrubs by the way. Here was the Christmas Tree, Prostanthera 

 lasiaiitha, with its last delicate labiate flowers just falling and the 

 seed-cases well formed. This was quite the appropriate place to 

 see it, for, from its native name, " Coranderrk," the creek and 

 district were named ; some of the aboriginals, however, call it 

 "Gheringadah." Perhaps one of these might be adopted when 

 fixing the vernacular names of our plants. As we proceeded we 

 noticed the Elder, Samhucus Gaudichaudiana^ and the Mountain 

 Ash, Panax sambucijolius, both in fruit. We were getting 

 higher, and ferns of many species occurred. The stream was 

 crossed, and presently the weir was reached, at about 

 two miles from the bridge. When the newly made scars 

 on the hillside are hidden by the touch of Nature 

 this will be one of the choicest of the nearer beauty 

 spots of Healesville. The tall, white-stemmed specimens of 

 Eucalyptus regnans up the slopes, with E. viminalis below, and 

 the wealth of shrubbery and ferns along the stream, form a 

 charming scene. The Metropolitan Board of Works, through 

 whose courtesy we were enabled to visit this portion of the water 

 reserves, has replanted many of the tree ferns about the new 

 works, and consequently the necessarily artificial appearance of 

 the weir will ere long be somewhat removed. After lunch, while 

 some of the party more or less successfully struggled through the 

 thick growth along the creek, in search of ferns, I, equally 

 unsuccessfuly, searched for epiphytal orchids below the 

 weir. Your hon. secretary was very pleased with the results 

 of his search for ferns, and recorded about twenty species 

 for the locality ; among them were Pteris Jalcata and P. arguta 

 {tremula). The specimens of Lomaria Huviatilis were some 

 of the largest 'he had ever seen, the fronds being fully 18 inches 

 in length. We half-expected two members, who proposed to 

 come up by the Sunday train, to pick us up here, but they did not 



