82 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



A wonderful change has taken place since that time : a railway 

 now extends almost to the foot of the Alps ; coaches convey 

 tourists during the summer season from Bright on good roads 

 across the mountains through Omeo to Bairnsdale, in Gippsland, 

 and vice versd. 



My first visit to the Alps was on the occasion of the centenary 

 of Australia, on the 26th of January, 1887, availing myself of the 

 cheap excursion fares to Myrtleford, which township was then 

 the terminus of this railway line. I never can forget my delight 

 when I saw the first tree of Grevillea viclorice covered with one 

 mass of bright crimson flowers, and I am sure the Baron must 

 have experienced the same when he named this plant in honour 

 of Her Majesty, and which he fully described in the first 

 volume of the "Transactions of the Philosophical (since Royal) 

 Society of Victoria, 1855," at page 107. x4.ll the specimens 1 

 obtained then were subsequently purchased, with many others, 

 by my late friend. Baron von Mueller, for distribution. 



I made another trip to the Alps in November, i8gi, when in 

 charge of the Economic Botanical Section in the Industrial and 

 Technological Museum, under the late Superintendent Mr. J. 

 Cosmo Newbery ; but all the specimens I collected at the time 

 were left in the Museum, carefully stowed away, and are 

 probably destroyed by insects before this. 



Feehng the want of Alpine plants in my herbarium so much, I 

 considered it necessary to journey to the Alps again. I very 

 much regretted that, on this occasion, my young friend Mr. 

 Charles French, jun., who has been my companion on many 

 previous botanical and entomological excursions, and who 

 is such an enthusiastic and keen observer, was prevented 

 from joining me, by his official duties, so I had to proceed 

 alone. 



Having only a week's time at my disposal, I tried to make 

 the most of it. I left Melbourne on Saturday by the early 

 morning train for Bright (mountain district excursion ticket, 

 available for two weeks, 26s. 5d.) Coaches meet the train on 

 arrival at half-past 3 o'clock in the afternoon, proceeding to 

 Harrietville, sixteen miles distant (fare half-a-crown), arriving 

 there a little after 6 in the evening. The drive is very pleasant, 

 providing the coaches are not crammed with passengers and 

 their luggage. The road follows up the Ovens River valley, which 

 is enclosed by bold ranges, crossing the river several times. 

 Harrietville is the last township on the northern side of the Alps, 

 and is situated between two streams at the foot of the main spur 

 leading up to Mount St. Bernard. I stayed for the night at Mr. 

 TuUoch's Harrietville Hotel. 



Next morning I left at 9 o'clock to commence my walk up to 

 Mount St. Bernard Hospice, a distance of twelve miles. When 



