^"el Field Naturalists' Club — Proceedings. 79 



Melbourne, and the paper dealt with material therein. As 

 the author pointed out, it was of great importance that type- 

 specimens should be labelled in such a manner as to preclude 

 the possibility of doubts respecting their identity occurring in 

 the future. 



2. By Dr. C. S. Sutton, entitled '' A Sketch of the Flora of 

 the Keilor Plains." 



In dealing with the flora of the Keilor or basaltic plains, 

 within a radius of 30 miles of Melbourne, the author sketched 

 the boundaries of the area investigated, and touched upon its 

 geological structure, physical features, and climatic and soil 

 conditions. He stated that the area under review, about 900 

 square miles, had not the florestic attractiveness, even in its 

 original condition, as the red-beds of the coastal plain, with 

 which he had dealt some time ago in his papers on the Sand- 

 ringham flora {Vict. Nat., vol. xxviii., p. 5, and vol. xxix., 

 p. 79). The vegetation of both areas had suffered to a great 

 extent from human interference — the former more so than the 

 latter, on account of the use to which the land had been put 

 for agricultural and agistment purposes. Notwithstanding 

 that these two adverse factors had been in active operation 

 over a lengthy period, a good idea may yet be gleaned of the 

 appearance and the constitution of its pristine flora from the 

 surviving species sheltering in the canyon-like watercourses 

 that traverse the area, and in the railway reserves, despite the 

 annual burning-off. For the most part, the vegetation of the 

 plains consists of tufted grasses, with low shrubs and herbs 

 interspersed. The tree growth of the plains was very meagre. 

 Of the few species of eucalypts that eked out a precarious 

 existence, the most prominent is the River Red Gum, Eucalyptus 

 rostrata, short-boled and gnarled trees with spreading limbs, 

 possessing a quaint picturesqueness that seems to redeem the 

 plains in their vicinity of some of their monotony. Though the 

 average rainfall of the area is a little more than twenty inches 

 annually, and this amount is said to be requisite to favour 

 forest growth, wide stretches of the plains are treeless, and 

 have been so since their formation. One of the most inter- 

 esting features of the flora of the basalt plains, from the point 

 of view of plant distribution, was the occurrence of a number 

 of north-western and south-western plants. No record exists 

 of these having been found in the country intervening between 

 their present habitat and the area under review. Among these 

 might be mentioned the Murray Pine, the Desert Cassia, the 

 Buloke, and the Bull Mallee. Of the area embraced by the 

 paper, 900 square miles, about 400 miles of its roads had been 

 traversed, and 421 plants noted. The hst, however, could 

 probably be extended by further search. 



