134 O'DoNOGHUE AND St. John, [voi"^xx?x 



arid in the extreme, the Palaeozoic rock, associated with quartz, 

 showing on the surface. Previously, the nearest known 

 locality to Melbourne in which this beautiful composite occurred 

 was Anglesey. Locally it is known as the " Moimtain Daisy." 

 This much we gleaned from a youth who came galloping down 

 a slope through the young wattles and gums, reined up in evident 

 wonder l)eside us, shouted the information sought, and, flogging 

 his mount into a galloj) with an old hat, disaj^iieared in quest 

 of several stray horses, which we subsequently encountered 

 feeding by the roadside. Acacia pycnantha abounded here- 

 abouts, and formed dense thickets that only a wallaby and the 

 youth we accosted could negotiate with any despatch. The 

 whole was a mass of bloom, and the perfume therefrom in the 

 still, moist evening appeared to us singularly oppressive. About 

 three months later, when one of us passed along the road, the 

 trees were rendered unsightly by the possession of thousands 

 of twisted legumes. The seeds had been shed, and were then 

 in the process of collection by small reddish-coloured ants, 

 which had, in many instances, gathered as much as a dessert- 

 spoonful of seed about the entrance to their nest. The object 

 of this acquisitiveness was not apparent, since any particular 

 seed in the various collections was many times larger than the 

 entrance to the nest. A casual examination of the seeds 

 seemed to warrant the conclusion that the caruncle was con- 

 sumed by the ants. To this harvest, so bountifully sj^rcad by 

 the Acacia pycnantha and .4. Mitchellii, the Bronze- winged 

 Pigeons had come. The birds were very numerous and 

 extremely shy, taking wing at the slightest disturbance. Pro- 

 ceeding onward, we found the transition from clay-slate to a 

 somewhat arenaceous formation ushered in new types of 

 vegetation. The white and i)ink Epacris, Lc/icopoi^on glacialis, 

 Grevillea florihunda, Ti'lyallicca ciliata. and Correa speciosa 

 margined the roadway. Between the grass-trees a small form 

 of Banksia margiiiala, and sturdy specimens of Hakea aciciilaris, 

 occurred. Isopogon ceralophyllus and Platylohiitin obtnsangukim 

 abounded, as did the orchid Glossodia jnajor and Acacia 

 Mitchellii. Shortly after j^assing Steiglitz cemetery the clay- 

 slate again manifested itself. Eucalyptus hemiphtoia and /:'. 

 Stuaytiana gave place to the eucalypts macrorhyncha, poly- 

 aiithcnius, mclliodora, and ohliqua, and the EpacridccC order was 

 succeeded by the Cyperacea'. Through dense growths of the 

 Black Saw-sedge, (iah)iia yadula, ('(Hiicspcyiiia voluhilc struggled 

 for espial and Spvyidiiini payvild/iuiii reared a modest spray of 

 sickly leaves. 



The township ol Steiglitz, situalcd on a stec)) sloiic leading 

 to the Sutherland's (reek, was reached in due course. Its 

 deserted streets and dilajjidated habitations plainly evidenced 



