^y>'!'] Barnard and French, Visi/ to Mt. Piper. 187 



After breakfast we started oft for the mount, with the 

 intention of making" our way from it across country to Kil- 

 more East, about seven miles, and picking up tlie evening 

 train there. Keeping to the Melbourne road for about a mile, 

 we then turned across the paddocks, principally used for 

 grazing, for another mile, till we began to approach the 

 mount. (J)n a damp slope specimens of the somewhat rare 

 orchid, Pfcrostylis mtitica, and the singular little fern, phio- 

 glossiim I'ulgatu))!, were secured, and, though our com- 

 panion was very keen in his search under bark, stones, &c.. 

 insects proved very scarce, but numerous planarians were 

 seen. 



As we approached the mount, we noticed high up on its 

 sides some bare rocks, which naturally we took to be granite, 

 on account of the record on the geological map, but later 

 found them, like the rest of the hill, to be of Silurian formation, 

 though greatly hardened by heat. We now found that to 

 reach the top of the mount it would be better to take 

 advantage of the south-easterly ridge previously mentioned. 

 When passing through a fine growth of the Golden Wattle. 

 Acacia pycnantha, a rather rare fungus was noticed on the 

 leaves, which has been identified for us byMr.C.C. Brittlebank 

 as Phyllosticta phyllodiorunu and, as there was only a single 

 specimen in the herbarium of the pathologist's branch, we 

 were able to supply a number of dui)licates. 



On the dry hillside we noticed a number of gum saplings 

 whose bark had evidently been nibbled by rabbits. Higher 

 up some white flowers were seen through the scrub, which, 

 on our getting nearer, proved to be the Nativ'e Heath. 

 Ilpacris imprcssa. A little further on we got on to the main 

 ridge, and found an indistinct track leading up towards the 

 sunimit. Here and there were small bushes of Grcvillca 

 alpina and Acacia acinacca, with Dilhvynia cricifolia, var. 

 pliyliciodcs, and other leguminous plants. About 150 feet 

 from the top we left the bulk of the stunted gums behind, 

 and found ourselves amongst what we had taken to be 

 granite rocks, but which turned out to be e.xposures of 

 Silurian, and thence to the top the hillside consisted of 

 weathered fragments of Silurian in a loose, friable red soil. 

 Here the Rock or Parsley Fern, Chcilaiitlics toiuifolia, grew 

 lu.xuriantly. This fern, one of our prettiest in its native 

 habitat, is the despair of most fern-growers. To grow it 

 at home as we saw it here, in dry, loose soil, would soon 

 result in death, while more lil>eral treatment generally has 

 the same result. The other plant which seemed to share the 

 mount with the Chcilanthes was the introduced Pimpernel. 



The summit, which consi.sted of a particularly hard form of 

 Silurian, in which were several quartz veins, and was not 

 more than 20 yards across, was reached alxnit noon, and 



