Vol. XXVII, 

 1911 



1 O'DoNOGHUE AND St. John, Aloug the Lerderdevg. 193 



Australis. Several large Blue Gums overshawdowed all, and 

 in these the White-throated Honey-eaters foraged silently, the 

 only indication of their presence being the occasional fall of 

 a damaged blossom. 



After lunch we continued our journey, and soon reached 

 the part, some eight miles from Bacchus ]\larsh, where the stream 

 debouches from the hills. On the slopes margining the river 

 hereabouts grow a variety of eucalypts. We noted E. polyan- 

 thema, E. hemiphloia, E. elcBOphora, E. melliodora, E. viminalis, 

 E. globulus, and E. leitcoxylon, and from the depths of these 

 came the pleasant calls of the Bronze and Pallid Cuckoos. 

 The Rosehill and Crimson Parrakeets were numerous, and, 

 answering our calls, came flying through the scrub in quest of 

 the noisy strangers who had invaded their domain. So, too, 

 the Blue Wren, perched on the spray of a Dodonaea, uttered 

 loud challanges to the unseen long- tailed trespassers on his 

 preserves. 



In the neighbourhood was another old hut, surrounded by 

 numerous bee-hives. The bees were evidently things of the 

 past, for few were seen flying in the w^arm sunshine about their 

 citadels. On a previous visit ]\Ir. St. John had noted a flock of 

 Bee-eaters, Merops ornatus, comprising over one hundred indivi- 

 duals, levying heavy toll on the industrious insects here. The 

 occupant of the hut, a miner by occupation, came out for a chat, 

 and, after being presented with that day's Argus, showed us 

 through numerous tunnels driven in glacial drift, in w'hich 

 *' gossan floors," " cut ofls, " dips," " rises," " faults," " down- 

 throws," and genuine " duflers " were pointed out in all sorts of 

 unlikely places, and the why and wherefore of the presence of 

 gold in the drift revealed to us. In turn we pointed across the 

 river to a fine section of the glacial beds abutting the vertical 

 Silurian strata, and briefly outlined the theory of the deposition 

 of the beds. Though listened to with marked respect, it needed 

 no keen perception to detect that the theory was considered 

 lahacious by the miner, though he admitted that " them geolo- 

 gist blokes did know something about the district," since he 

 had quarried stone for the Shire Councfl, in which the outlines of 

 ferns and plants with laurel -like leaves, to which we had referred, 

 had occurred. 



Bidding our brief acquaintance adieu, w^e descended a steep 

 guUy at the rear of his hut, and gained the river's margin, finding 

 on the way several large mammalated pieces of carbonate of 

 hme on the tip of a small drive. Now for the first time the 

 looked-for shrubby labiate, Westringia glabra, was discerned, 

 each bush presenting a gorgeous display of pale violet bloom. 

 In juxtaposition Goodenia ovata and Puliencea daphnoides flaunted 

 their beauty. Making our way across the uptilted edges of the 



