165 
‘ First General Report of the Government Botanist on the Vegetation 
of the Colony of Victoria, dated September, 1853, and Printed 
by order of the Council. 
This very excellent report has been most obligingly placed in our 
hands by Dr. J. M. Barry, of Tunbridge Wells, with permission to 
reprint the whole or any portion in the ‘ Phytologist.’ At a moment 
when we are looking on Victoria simply as the source of unbounded 
wealth, and turning a deaf ear to all merits and demerits that do not 
issue in the magical word “gold,” it is really refreshing to find 
science pursued with perseverence, zeal, and ability, even though an 
individual follow his vocation, as in this instance, alone. ‘The ‘ Phy- 
tologist,’ intended for, and almost confined to, the Botany of Britain, 
may, nevertheless, without incurring just censure, extend its scope to 
her colonies, or even to foreign lands ; and we feel persuaded that we 
shall be performing an acceptable service to botanists if we lay before 
them the following “ Report” entire. 
“In obedience to His Excellency’s command, I have the honour 
to transmit to. you my General Report, partly compiled from those 
documents which I forwarded on several occasions during my jour- 
ney, from February until June last, and partly resting on the subse- 
quent examination of the specimens which I brought home. 
“ Before I enter into any details on the classification of our indige- 
nous vegetable world, on its relation in comparison with the plants of 
the adjacent countries, and on the practical uses to which we might 
possibly apply many of its productions, it may be considered neces- 
sary to delineate the route which I pursued during my last expe- 
dition. 
““T proceeded, at first, with deviations from the usual road wherever 
it appeared favourable for my pursuits, to Futter’s Range, which rears, 
like some other granitic mountains in its vicinity, a host of very pecu- 
liar plants. Thence I directed my course to May Day Hills, from 
which place I advanced, after a brief stay, to the Buffalo Ranges, 
where I ascended Mount Aberdeen and another peak more than 4,000. 
feet high, and examined the rich, almost tropical, vegetation which 
borders the rivers rising in these mountains. It was in this locality 
that our exertions were rewarded with the discovery of the high, 
majestic Grevillea Victoria, and other rarities. Indications of gold 
have been observed here, as well as in some parts of Gipps’ Land 
