THB VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 



anxiety on my part not to monopolise too much of the time of 

 the monthly meetings, or to occupy constantly too much of 

 the space of our journal, and I think both the hon. editor and 

 the hon. secretary will give me credit for this part of my 

 statement. I may further remark that it is my intention, if I 

 can possibly do so, to publish these papers on the Ferns and 

 the Orchids of Victoria in handbook form with corrections and 

 additions up to date and glossary of terms used, the latter 

 corrections and additions taken from the valuable census of the 

 plants of Australia ; and, finally, I have to thank Baron von 

 Mueller for his kindness in naming such plants as I required, 

 for setting me right when I was often mistaken, and for the 

 temporary loan of certain specimens by which I have been able 

 to illustrate each paper as it was read. My next contribution 

 will be a series of short papers on the destructive insects of 

 Victoria, with some accounts of their life history and doings. 



@) ^ 



NOTES OF A HOLIDAY TOUR IN RIVERINA AND 



WESTERN VICTORIA. 



By Messrs. C. French, F.L.S., and F. G. A. Barnard. 



(Read before the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, 13th 

 December, 18 86. J 



(Concluded.) 



After tea we all had a good chat over a cheerful fire on all 

 ■sorts of natural history topics, and afterwards our hon. secretary 

 sallied out to find out Mr. Jno. Dennant, another member of our 

 club, and a resident of Hamilton, who, it will be remembered, 

 a, little time ago commenced a very interesting series of papers 

 on the geology of south-west Victoria. After some little 

 trouble, owing to darkness and wet, his residence was found, 

 and on making himself known his visitor was cordially 

 welcomed. Mr. Dennant has been working for some years at 

 the fossiliferous deposits of Muddy Creek, in conjunction with 

 Professor Tate, F.G.S., of Adelaide, and lias now a collection 

 •of between five and six hundred species, a great number of 

 which were discovered by him, and many of which are still 

 Tindetermined. They vary in size from cowries as large as a 

 good-sized cocoanut to shells as small as dust shot. A great 

 many are in a beautiful state of preservation, and still retain the 

 enamelled gloss which they possessed while living, and makes 

 it hard to realise that their occupants have been dead perhaps a 

 million of years. We had some idea of visiting Mount Napier 

 and the Byaduk Caves, about fifteen miles south-west of 



