46 The South Australian Naturalist. 



vioiisly the creek had flooded the railway line so that the train 

 was delayed for two days. The party travelled by rail as far 

 as Parachilna, and entered the Ranges through the famous 

 Parachilna Pass. A few days were si)ent at Moolooloo, which 

 station, thanks to the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Lindo, has been 

 visited on two other occasions by members of this Field 

 Naturalists' Section. Some ])hotograi)hs taken near Moolooloo 

 showed the uniform dip of the strata away from the escarp- 

 ments of a series of tilted earth-blocks that there dominate the 

 mountain structure. The serrated outline of the hills was also 

 illustrated, the angular weathering being typical of usually dry 

 regions. Several geographical features of the North have been 

 named after Messrs. Chambers and Finke, the pioneers who 

 originally owned Moolooloo. The history of the abandoned 

 copper mines at Blinman and Nuccaleena was touched upon ; 

 William Darton Kekwick, McDouall Stuart's lieutenant, died 

 at the last-named settlement in 1872. The ore now obtainable 

 in the Ranges is of comparatively low grade, and of late years 

 the mining industry has received a severe check owing to the 

 fall in the price of copper. The naturalists camped for a fort- 

 night at Owienagin, and pictures taken there excited special 

 interest. The floor of the Owienagin "Pound," as well as much 

 of the surrounding country, is covered with dense forests of 

 the Northern Pine (Callitris robusta), an elegant tree giving 

 quite a })ark-like appearance to the landscape; this pine grows 

 to a height of 40 feet or more. Huge eucalypts also are abun- 

 dant, but are confined to the watercourses; views from the 

 summit of a high hill showed how the course of a creek could be 

 traced for miles by the rows of Gum trees lining the banks. 

 Mr. Wilkinson, whose artistic photography is well known, 

 obtained some beautiful studies of these majestic eucalypts over- 

 shadowing the running streams. 



The native flowers were exceptionally flne, and many 

 botanical specimens were collected by Messrs. Beck and 

 Stokes. Quantities of blooms from the northern dis- 

 tricts were exhibited by the Wild-flower Show of this 

 Society, held in October of last year. The Argentine 

 tobacco tree (Nicotiana glauca) is a useless introduction which 

 covers big stretches of formerly good grazing land. This pest, 

 after having flourished for a time, dies off and presents a 

 wilderness of dead branches. Whilst about fifty species of 

 tobacco are known to science, one only (Nicotiana suaveolens) 

 is indigenous to Aus'tralia. John McKinlay, the explorer who 

 later led one of the search parties that endeavoured to clear up 

 the mystery of the Burke and Wills Expedition, settled at 



