8o Field Naiuralisis' Club — Proceedings. [voT."^xxxiii. 



The president, in complimenting the author on the result 

 of his investigations, said the paper afforded a fine example 

 of the manner in which a complete botanical census of a 

 locality should be carried out. 



Mr. F. G. A. Barnard, in supplementing the president's 

 remarks, solicited information respecting the identity of the 

 eucalypt that occasioned the isolated patch of medium-sized 

 timber between Mount Mary and the Werribee River. 



Mr. T. S. Hart, M.Sc, expressed himself to the effect that 

 the plain flora adjacent to Melbourne had been a neglected 

 subject in the past, and that Dr. Sutton was to be compli- 

 mented on his exhaustive investigation of the area under con- 

 sideration. The remnant of the plain vegetation still left should 

 be carefully studied whilst the opportunity remains, as 

 cultivation greatly changes the character of the vegetation. 

 The plains at the l^eginning of summer present a wonderful 

 display of flowers, and it was surprising to note the number of 

 plants of North- Western Victoria that were to be seen. We 

 appeared, however, to assume too readily that these plants 

 had extended from the North- West. It had to be remembered 

 that Victoria was at one time a land of low relief, and possibly 

 the plants had a wider extension than they now enjoy. 



Mr. J. G. O'Donoghue asked if the author had noted that the 

 North- Western species of plants in the area under discussion 

 were invariably found where the Miocene or Ordovician forma- 

 tion had been exposed by the denudation of the overlying 

 basalt, and instanced the occurrence of the Murray Pine, Buloke, 

 Cassia, Senecio Cunninghami, &c.. in the neighbourhood of 

 the Werribee Gorge, and the Murray Pine at Digger's Rest. 



Dr. Sutton, in replying, said he had not noted the peculiarity 

 mentioned by the hon. secretary, and was not acquainted with 

 the forest of eucalypts referred to by Mr. Barnard. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTE. 



Mr. F. Chapman, A.L.S., contributed a note from Private 

 W. D. Chapman, on active service in France, which stated that 

 the Red Bottle-Brush, Callistemon lanceolaUis, which he had 

 seen in Gippsland, is a very popular ornamental shrut) in the 

 north of France. Other Australian plants were noted, but 

 not to the same extent as in the southern parts of the republic. 

 The common Hydrangea, Hydrangea Iwrtensis, in comparison 

 with the plant as it grows in Victoria, is small and weedy in 

 appearance. 



EXHIBITS. 



By Mr. W. T. Bennett. — Twenty-one specimens of Victorian 

 limestones from the following districts : — Buchan, Orbost, 



