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separated, the majority favouring the study of botany. On 

 arriving at the cutting to which reference has been made Pro- 

 fessor Tate explained that this was a small patch of diluvial 

 formation, consisting of sandy clays with sharp gravel under- 

 neath, and occasionally cemented by a ferruginous layer of 

 hard rock overlying uncomformably the decomposing sandy 

 slates. It might be regarded as a portion of the same series 

 as they had seen at Highbury a fortnight ago. He drew the 

 attention of the members to the contour of our hill slopes, as 

 being such as would not result from atmospheric denudation, 

 which tends to bring into relief the hard bands, whereas in the 

 case of our hills the hard and soft were smoothed down to one 

 uniform curve. The Professor then took the opportunity of 

 making his hearers acquainted with the last phase of the con- 

 troversy touching the glaciation of Australia. As bearing on 

 the question under discussion, Mr. D. B. Adamson referred to 

 CroU's theory as to climatic changes being due to the shifting 

 of the earth's axis, remarking that astronomical facts did not 

 justify this conjecture. The geologists then continued to walk 

 along the railway line as far as a very high embankment at 

 the entrance to a beautiful little glen. This latter, about a 

 quarter of a mile from the embankment, is closed by lofty 

 walls of rock, about seventy or eighty feet high in parts, a 

 waterfall of small dimensions flowing over the extreme end. 

 To this the party wended its way, and on arriving there the 

 formation of waterfalls was discussed. It was pointed out 

 that in the case of the one before them, the walls of which 

 were composed of grit-bands, a very large mass of rock must 

 have been washed av/ay, and that the present flow of water 

 was not competent to have caused this. As the erosive action 

 progresses the waterfall itself continues to gradually lessen in 

 heitiht because of the inward high dip. 



Mr. J. Gr. O. Tepper acted as guide to the botanical party, 

 who directed their energies to that portion of Government 

 Parm which had been recommended. The most striking feature 

 here was the shrub Leptospermum myrsinoides, which was covered 

 with its white flowers, suggestive of a fruit blossom. Attention 

 was directed to the female pistillate flowers of the Gasuarina 

 disfyJa. This part of the hills is noted for its orchids, and 

 several varieties were gathered. A very interesting discovery 

 of an orchid not previously found in these parts was also made, 

 viz., Calocliilus Rohertsoni, which is met with in the South-East, 

 and two years ago was seen at Maclaren Yale, but previous to 

 the date of this excursion was not known at Government Parm. 

 A remarkable feature of this orchid is its lip, which is covered 

 with dense hair, and presents a most peculiar appearance. 

 Other orchids found during the afternoon were TheJymitra 



