20 FLOBA OF ATJSTBALIA. 



the order in a future volume of the "Flora A ustraliensis " will 

 be, it would be vain to suppose that brief notices only (which 

 are all that can be given in a comprehensive review of our vege- 

 table kingdom) will be sufficient to satisfy the minds of those 

 who are anxious to investigate the protean forms and anomalous 

 structure of our orchidacea?. In any of the flowers of the field 

 which it has pleased the Creator to scatter about us in wild pro- 

 fusion, there are beauties to be admired and mysteries to be 

 studied ; but in no order of our flora do the flowers appear so 

 varied in colour, so fantastic in shape, or so seemingly irregular 

 from the consolidation of the stamens and pistil into one com- 

 mon mass, as in orchids. Many of these elegant plants are so 

 insignificant as almost to escape observation, and others are 

 doomed "to blush unseen" amidst the dense shrubs that shade 

 them ; and yet, fostered by the Almighty power which called 

 them into existence, "they toil not, neither do they spin," whilst 

 it may truly be said, "that even Solomon in all his glory was 

 not arrayed like one of these." They, are indeed, as the poet 

 beautifully expresses himself, "the revelation of God's love" to 

 His creatures. 



" Bright and glorious is that revelation, 



Written all over this great world of ours ; 

 Making evident our own creation 



In these stars of earth these golden flowers.'' 



RINGWORM, OR DODDER, ON LUCERNE. 



I" T appears from the statements of several settlers that the 

 parasite called "ringworm," or "dodder" has lately prevailed 

 to a considerable extent on lucerne cultivated in some dis- 

 tricts of the colony. The parasite is nothing new to agricul- 

 turists, having been known in New South Wales for many years ; 

 but of late it seems to have spread more extensively than here- 

 tofore, and to have become very injurious to the lucerne crops. 



