NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 459 



whilst the intermediate layer is composed of the flexor brevis hallueis, flexor brevis 

 minimi cligiti, and the three plantar interosseous muscles. 



The hypothesis that the relationship between " nerve supply " and " musclc-homo- 

 logy " is invariable and immutable has also been tested in this Report. The author 

 maintains that the nerve of supply is not an infallible guide to the homology of a muscle ; 

 at the same time he is inclined to consider it in many cases the most important factor to 

 be taken into account in determining this point. 



During the stay at Sydney Mr. Moseley made two excursions to Browera Creek, one 

 of the many branches of the main estuary, or rather inlet, into which the Hawkesbury 

 River runs, and is a place full of interest to the naturalist. Suddenly, after 

 traversing a high plateau of the horizontal sandstone, the traveller meets with a deep 

 chasm about 1000 feet in depth, but not more than a quarter of a mile wide. This 

 chasm or channel has precipitous rocky walls on either side, with more or less sloping 

 talus, and at the bottom runs the river, a small stream over which one can easily jerk 

 a pebble when standing at its brink. The chasm or creek takes a winding course, so 

 that only short sweeps of it can be seen at a time, and as it widens out and turns 

 sharply or again contracts, one seems, when in a boat on its waters, to pass through a 

 succession of long narrow lakes. The river, or rather stream, at the place where the 

 creek was approached, is tidal. It is impossible to say where the river ends and the sea 

 begins. The main part of the creek is a long tortuous arm of the sea, 10 to 15 

 miles in length, and is itself provided with numerous branches and bays, which 

 are perfectly bewildering to a man not accustomed to row on them every day in his 

 life ; the whole is, in fact, like a maze. The side walls of the creek are covered 

 with a luxuriant vegetation, with huge masses of Stagshoru Fern (Platycerium) and 

 " Rock Lilies " (Orchids), and a variety of timbers, whilst there are Tree-ferns and 

 small Palms in the lateral shady gullies. As an example of denudation, the creek 

 appeal! to correspond exactly to what is seen at a much higher level in the Blue Moun- 

 tains. The extraordinary proximity into which animals found usually only in the open sea, 

 arc here brought with those only occurring inland, is of great interest from a geological 

 point of view ; it recalls at once' to the mind such mixtures of marine and terrestrial 

 animal remains as those occurring in geological deposits, such as the Stonesfield beds. 

 Here is a narrow strip of sea water, 20 miles distant from the open sea ; on a sandy 

 shallow flat close to its head arc to be seen basking in the sun numbers of Sting- rays 

 (Tryyon), a kind of Skate provided with a sharp saw-edged bony weapon (the sting), at 

 the base of its tail. All over these fiats, and throughout the whole stretch of the creek, 

 shoals of Grey Mullet are to be met with ; numerous other marine fish inhabit the creek, 

 some growing to 150 lbs. in weight, and often caught weighing as much as 60 or 80 lbs. 

 A Diodon or Trunk-fish occurs amongst the fishes. Porpoises chase the Mullet right up 



