io6 EwART, The Flora of the Victorian Alps. \^^%cu^^' 



high alpine elevations. Mr. Campbell informs me that he based 

 his statement on the name given in the list by \^^eindorfer. 

 Neither Mr. Weindorfer nor Dr. Sutton retained specimens of 

 the plant either from the Grampians or from the Victorian Alps, 

 and Dr. Sutton naturally hesitates from memory to affirm to 

 which species the specimen actually found belonged. B. integri- 

 folia, L., is, however, a coastal species, and the record probably 

 refers to Banksia marginata, Cav., which does ascend to alpine 

 elevations. No specimens were seen growing in the Victorian 

 Alps during the present trip, so that the species, whichever it 

 may be, cannot be very abundant. On p. 35, Thelymitra fusco- 

 hitea, R. Br., is quoted as a South Australian species found 

 growing in the Grampians. The plant has long been known as 

 a native of Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. 

 On the same page, Caladenia filamentosa, R. Br., is given as a 

 South Australian species occurring in the Grampians. It is 

 difficult to trace this species geographically, since Mueller in- 

 cluded it under C. Patersoni ; but Bentham gives it from all 

 the southern states excepting Victoria, though apparenth^ only 

 in low-lying districts. Again, three ferns are recorded as new 

 to the district, but I have seen no specimens of them. 



I venture again to strongly urge the importance of botanists 

 making full use of the facilities for reference and comparison 

 offered by the National Herbarium before publishing new records. 

 Complete accuracy is difficult enough to obtain when full pre- 

 cautions are taken to avoid error, but it can hardly be expected 

 when the means and materials provided for the purpose of 

 avoiding error are not utilized. As a flora of the Grampians 

 would naturally follow a flora of the Victorian Alps, it is im- 

 portant that the early records should be correct ; otherwise it 

 becomes impossible to tell whether the absence of a species from, 

 or its appearance on, a later list is an instance of migration, 

 extinction, or erroneous determination. 



From the list of the flora of the Victorian Alps given here- 

 with it will be seen to be more extensive and varied than one 

 might suppose to be the case. It includes, so far as at present 

 determined, 335 species, or nearly one-sixth of the Victorian 

 flora, and no less than fifty-nine natural orders of flowering 

 plants are represented (exclusive of the Coniferae), though 

 twenty of these by a single species only. No less than forty- 

 six species belong to the Compositae, while the Leguminosae in- 

 clude thirty-five species and the Myrtaceae twenty-seven. These 

 three orders, therefore, comprise very nearly one-third of the 

 whole flora. Other relatively well represented orders are the 

 Umbelliferae, with ten species ; the Proteacca?. with sixteen 

 species ; the Epacridae, with eleven species ; the Orchidea?, witli 

 thirteen species ; and the Gramineae, with seventeen species. 



