470 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
Devonian rocks rest on the silurian to the east of Bathurst. 
They are mostly grits and quartzites, and are rarely found ata 
height of less than 1,000 feet above Bathurst. 
The Bathurst Plains have been cultivated for the last sixty 
years, and although the soil does not appear promising at first 
sight, good crops of wheat are obtained in favourable years. Most 
of the Silurians and Devonians remain in the condition of bush, 
but they have been cultivated in places, and there are some 
successful orchards on these rocks. 
FLORA OF BATHURST. 
When a visitor comes to Bathurst and proceeds to examine the 
flora he is likely to think that it is in a state of abject poverty. 
This does not apply to the actual number of plants, for the ground 
is often covered with flowers, but to the variety and interest of 
the flora, most of the plants being common and widely diffused 
weeds, such as Geranium dissectum, Helichrysum apiculatum, 
Wahlenbergia gracilis, Goodenia pinnatifida, together with the 
introduced Medicago maculata. More careful examination at 
different seasons of the year shows that a considerable addition 
may be made to the meagre list, but, after years of searching, 
one has to admit that the flora is decidedly limited in variety. 
As much of the country has been so long under cultivation this 
might account for the destruction of the native flora, but there 
are some patches of bush, and the slopes of the Bald Hills, which 
have only been lightly grazed, so that it is not hkely that many 
species have been exterminated. On approaching the boundaries 
of the granite in certain directions one finds some new plants, but 
the variety is still limited until one reaches the Silurian rocks. 
Then a change is at once noted. Instead of open land, with 
scattered trees and well grassed, one finds numerous shrubs and 
stunted gum-trees, with detached tussocks of coarse grass and 
much bare ground. Although the soil appears to be comparatively 
barren and decidedly poorer than the granite, yet one finds a much 
greater variety of plants, which are for the most part quite distinct 
from those met with on the granite. There is some difference in 
the flora on the different sides of Bathurst, yet for the most part, 
the Silurian flora is of the same type all round the district, although 
the rocks vary considerably, sometimes being slightly altered slates 
and phyllites, sometimes true mica schists, and highly mineralized, 
with the limestone changed to dolomite. 
As one passes along the slopes to the east of Bathurst, where 
the Silurian rocks are partly covered with downwash from the 
Devonians,.the flora appears to become poorer. On the Devonian 
rocks themselves the gullies are fairly well covered with plants, 
