Feb. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 321 



peaks, The Twins, 6000 ft.: to dome-shaped heights, as 

 Mount Hotham, 6100 ft; broadening out into flat expanses 

 of tableland at lower levels, as Baw Baw Plains, 5300 ft. ; 

 descending into low gaps or saddles, as Tougio Gap, near 

 Omso, 3000 ft. — thus affording an easier access from the 

 northern basin to the seaboard ; and again rising into 

 ragged and escarped mountains, as Mounts Tambo, 4700 

 ft., and Cobberas, 6025 ft.; or into aguille-shaped peaks, 

 as Mount Pilot ; or the still loftier irregular contours 

 of the snow-clad mountain plateaux surrounding Mount 

 Kosciusko, 7250 ft. above sea-level. 



Lofty tablelands occur on the lateral wateished lines ; 

 those north of the main watershed line in Victoria comprise 

 the Bogong High Plains, 6000 ft., and the Omeo Plains, 

 3000 ft. This depressed tableland, which covers an area 

 of 2-4 square miles, has a small lake in its centre, oh miles 

 long by 1^ wide, which is fed by rains and storm-waters 

 from the surrounding hills. It has no visible outlet, the 

 character of the surrounding country consisting of open tree- 

 less plains, merging by gentle slopes into the encircling 

 timbered ranges. Those south of it comprise the Snowy 

 Plains, about 5000 ft.; Dargo High Plains, 5000; and 

 the Xuninyong and Gelantipy tablelands, each over 3000 ft. 

 above sea-level. 



In close proximity to one of these plateaux (Bogong 

 High Plains), on a lateral watershed line, the highest peaks 

 in Victoria are situated, notably. Mount Bogong, 6508 ft. 

 at its northern extremity; Mount Cope,. 6015 ft. at its 

 eastern rim ; and Mount Feathertop, 6303 ft. at the 

 south-west margin. 



The physical features and climatic conditions of all the 

 higher plateaux are distinctly Alpine. Flat expanses of 

 moorland, and undulating rises, covered with alpine flowers 

 and snowgrasses, mosses, and lichens, at the sources of 

 springs ; and groups of gnarled and stunted gum scrub 

 (eucalyptus) on the lower lying shelves. Although the 

 surface is rocky in parts, the soil of most of the table- 

 lands, except that of the Mount Kosciusko plateau, is rich 

 volcanic, and is highly productive. During midsummer, 

 about the beginning of February, these highlands are 

 covered with a most luxuriant verdure, the richness and 



