Vol. XXVII, 



1911 



] at Wilson's Promontory. 213 



Selaginella Preissiana — belonging to the Lycopodinace^e, 

 grew in moist places, and this, with Cotula mistralis, Mentha 

 Pulegium, Cerastium quaternelhim, and Centrolepis fascicalaris 

 were all new additions to the flora. 



Our wanderings led us on the following morning in the 

 direction of Five-Mile Beach, a distance of twenty miles from 

 Darby River, through grass-tree plains, on which the more strik- 

 ing plants were SowerhcBa juncea, Pimelea phylicoides, Dam- 

 picra stricta, Tetratheca pilosa, Thelymitra aristata, Tricoryne 

 elatior, Cyathodes acerosa, Stylidium {Candollea) gramini folium^ 

 and Patersonia glauca, the latter being well out in bloom • 

 but it is advisable to admire its delicate bluish flowers upon 

 the plant itself, because they perish almost immediately if 

 gathered. The swampy parts were occupied by Hakea pugioni- 

 formis, with its rigid, sharp leaves and dagger-shaped fruit, 

 while here and there PidiencBa villosa formed isolated patches 

 of scrub. 



In a deep gully at the head of Chinaman's Creek are some 

 splendid specimens of eucalypts E. ohliqua and E. Mueller iana, 

 but more particularly the Blue Gum, E. globulus, one of which 

 measured 40 feet in circumference at a height of six feet from 

 the base, and it was in this gully also that we noticed some fine 

 " Lilly- pillies," Eugenia Smithii, in fruit, and clothed to their 

 highest branches by the climbing fern Polypodium pustidatum. 

 On a portion of the plains known as the " Sugar-basin," where 

 the ground is of the same treacherous and boggy nature as 

 met with at Growler's Creek, the hoarse cry of hundreds of 

 crows wheeling and circling about bore ominous tidings of 

 some unfortunate beast perishing in the bog. From this point 

 to the Three-Mile Beach the country had been recently swept 

 by fire, and we were interested and somewhat surprised at 

 the rapidity with which certain plants had re-asserted them- 

 selves, those flourishing exceedingly being Diplarrhena MorcBa, 

 ChamcBscilla corymbosa, Helichrysum scofpioides, and Bur- 

 char dia umbellata. 



We had a very rough experience in making our way down 

 the precipitous hills towards Five-Mile Beach, the ^overgrown 

 vegetation, consisting of the Wire-grass, Tetrarrhena juncea. 

 combined with Bauera rubioides and Acacia verticillata, being 

 almost impenetrable ; but, thanks to the astuteness of our 

 guide, Mr. Patterson, we reached the beach safely at last. 

 After fording Boys Creek (which is quite a large stream at its 

 mouth) we proceeded in a westerly direction, and our attention 

 was quickly attracted by a perennial grass with a splendid 

 tendency for covering surfaces, its shoots reaching three or 

 four feet in length and rooting at every joint. It seemed 

 also well adapted to endure long privations of moisture. 



