THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 147 



EXCURSION TO GISBORNE. 



Notwithstanding the beautiful day on Saturday, i6th December, 

 1899, only two members left town by the midday train for 

 Gisborne. Perhaps the distance (40 miles) was answerable for 

 the small attendance. On arrival there, at 2 p.m., we found that 

 our leader, Mr. G. Lyell, had kindly provided a conveyance to 

 take us some four or five miles south of the station to some 

 scrubby country forming the slopes of the valley of the Pyreete 

 Creek. Passing through the old township the fine trees in the 

 main streets were justly admired. Turning into the Melton road 

 we travelled along this for about three miles, and then, selecting 

 a shady spot, left our youthful driver to beguile the time as best 

 he could for some three hours. 



A visitor to the locality for the first time is at once struck by 

 the resemblance of the flora to the heath grounds around 

 Sandringham, though here we were at least 1,500 feet above the 

 sea level. Another peculiarity is that one seems to descend 

 instead of ascend into the ranges. The fact is that the valley of 

 the Pyreete Creek forms a huge basin covering some twenty 

 square miles, which drains into the Djerriwarrh Creek, and thence 

 into the Werribee, and is really the most easterly tributary of that 

 river. This basin is bounded on the eastern side by Mt. 

 Gisborne, the source of Kororoit Creek, and on the west by Mt. 

 Bullengarook, while the roads from Gisborne to Melton on the 

 eastern side, and to Bacchus Marsh on the western side, keep 

 along the outside edge of the basin on an elevated table-land. 



We were soon at work, but, being now rather hot, insects were 

 scarce. Quantities of Native Heath, Epacris impressa, were 

 everywhere, and in the season the hillsides must present a lovely 

 appearance indeed. Hihhertia fasciculata and Gorrea speciosa 

 were plentiful. But the few remaining flowers of such legumin- 

 aceous plants as Dillwynia florihunda, Bossicea cordigera, Daviesia 

 corymbosa, and PuUencea daphnoides made us wish we had been 

 there a month or so earlier. The locality seems also to be a 

 stronghold of the Acacias, for eight species were identified during 

 the afternoon, among them being Acacia leprosa, with its sticky 

 foliage; A. armata, the Kangaroo Acacia, well known as a hedge 

 plant about Melbourne ; and the pretty little A. acinacea. Grass- 

 trees, Xanthorrhoea australis, were numerous. Following down 

 a somewhat easy valley, a few ferns, such as Davallia dubia, 

 Lomaria eapense, and Adiantum cethiopicum were noticed, also 

 Veronica derwentia and Senecio dryadeus in flower, while fine 

 bushes of Goodia lotifolia and Indigofera australis were bearing 

 their burdens of seed-pods. A single specimen of Gompholobium 

 huegelii added another papilionaceous plant to our list. On the 

 hillside Trachymene billardieri was growing. Arriving at the 

 creek we worked down for a short distance, coming to a rocky bank 



