i86 Barnard and French, Visit to Mt. Piper. [vli'."xxlx. 



NOTES OF A VISIT TO MOUNT PIPER. 



By F. G. a. Barnard and C. French, jun. 



(Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, gth Dec, 1912.) 



Mount Piper is an isolated hill some twelve miles north 

 of the main divide, and lies almost due north of Melbourne. 

 It is a conspicuous landmark, as seen from the North-Eastern 

 railway, between Kilmore East and Broadford, or to travel- 

 lers along" the Sydney road in the vicinity of Kilmore. 



From a distance it has much the appearance of Mount 

 Diogenes, better known as the " Hanging Rock." near 

 Woodend. It is lightly timbered, and rises abruptly from 

 comparatively level country, though on the south-east side 

 a rather sharp ridge forms a somewhat easy approach. Its 

 height is recorded as 1,300 feet above sea-level, but, as its 

 base is probably about 800 feet, its elevation above the plain 

 would be only 500 feet. From its isolation, and being marked 

 on the geological map of Victoria as volcanic, in the midst 

 of a Silurian area, we had, when passing in the train, often 

 expressed a wish to investigate its natural history. 



The opportunity came in October last, when, along with 

 another member of our Club, we arranged for a week-end in 

 the district, and though the results of our visit hardly came 

 up to our anticipations, still, as the mount is out of the 

 track of the usual Club excursions, we thought that a few 

 notes about the outing might prove interesting. 



Leaving town by the afternoon train, Broadford, 47 miles, 

 was reached about 5 o'clock, enabling us to have a short 

 ramble before dark. The town is situated in hilly, picturesque 

 country, the Sunday Creek, then a fair stream, cutting across 

 the main (Sydney) road from east to west, and to some ex- 

 tent dividing the township Into two portions. Looking 

 north, the Tallarook Ranges stand boldly up only a few miles 

 away, and cut off any more distant prospect in that direc- 

 tion. To the south-west was the wooded peak of Mount 

 Piper. Rambling towards the paper mill — the principal in- 

 dustry of the place, large quantities of straw being turned 

 into cardboard— at least six species of Psyllids were collected 

 from the gum saplings along the road ; then wc turned 

 towards the railway line, and in the enclosure found a few 

 interesting flowers, among them the orchid Caladcnia 

 ccernlca. Numerous branches of the eucalypts strewed the 

 ground; these, on examination, proved to have been cut 

 off by the longicorn beetle, Scolccobrotus wcstwoodi. Next 

 morning we were out betimes, and strolled over towards 

 Broadhurst's Creek, the valley of which the railway follows 

 from Wandong to near Broadford, and which junctions with 

 the Sunday Creek near the paper mill. 



