132 Excursion to Belgrave. [ 



Vict. Nat. 



Voi.xxxr 



long by 4 feet 6 inches high at thickest part, and about 3 feet 

 6 inches from side to side. From these dimensions and the 

 average weight of granite we have computed its weight to be 

 about 8 tons, and it is so evenly balanced that a very slight 

 effort is sufficient to rock it up and down. About 3 inches 

 is the extent of the movement allowed by the shape of the 

 lower stone. The axis of the stone is north-west and south- 

 east, the smaller end pointing to the north-west. An effort 

 was made to get a photograph of the stone when moving, but 

 the photographer used too quick a shutter, so that has still to 

 be obtained. There was little time to look around, so we 

 hurried after the ladies. The leader having, through the help 

 of Mr. B. L. Stanton, who was more famiUar with the district 

 than himself, put the rest of the party on the road to the 

 station, said good-bye at North Narre Warren, intending to 

 spend another day in the district and visit the leaf beds at 

 Wilson's quarry at Berwick. But fate determined otherwise. 

 Calling to see Mr. G. W. Robinson, a former member of the 

 Club, Mr. Stanton and myself were persuaded to spend the 

 evening with him and talk over old times, &c. In the morning 

 we determined to make back for the hills round the southern 

 edge of the Cardinia basin to Emerald, from whence we took 

 the old road along the summit of the Divide to Belgrave again. 

 The natural history of the trip was not striking. Gompholohium 

 Hiics,cln was the feature everywhere. Many of the Leptospermum 

 Inishes wore bedecked with jewels in the shape of the litllc Emerald 

 Cockchafer Beetle, Diphucephala rugosa. A solitary specimen 

 of an orchid, which may have been PrasophyUmn brevilahre, 

 was collected, but has not been preserved. A number of cases 

 of absence of chlorophyll in the leaves of several different species 

 of plants were noticed, and the thought struck one. Had the 

 dry season anything to do with this ? So far as I can learn, 

 the stone visited is the only rocking stone in Victoria ; if any 

 member knows of another I will be glad to have jjarticulars. — 

 F. G. A. Barnard, 



An Australian Bird in Mid-Ocean. — In a letter to his 

 father. Private S. B. Abbott, of the 4th Light Horse, in the 

 First Expeditionary Force, and formerly a member of the F.N.C., 

 says : — " A little brown bird like a lark, called a Pi]iit, has 

 been with us since we left Port Melbourne, and is now quite 

 tame. It lives chiefly on flies got in the stables." 



Corrections. — In November Naturalist, page 103, lines 22, 23, 

 for " specimens " read " specimen " ; line 25, for •' Cotype " 

 read " Cotypes." 



In December Naturalist, page 124, line K) from bottom, for 

 " Macrocrypus " read " Macrocypris." 



