- THE VICTORIAN NA.TUKALIST. 75 



little Pimelea alpina, a great contrast with its robust confrere, 

 the magnificent Pimelea ligustiina of the wooded slopes. 



It would be strange if the grand order of plants so universally 

 distributed over the globe — the Leguminosae — had not its 

 representatives among the herbs or shrubs on this mountain. 

 Yes, here we have patches of a dark-blue and yellowish brown 

 tint, the former made up of Hovea longifolia var. alpina, and 

 the latter of Oxylobium alpestre. It is on the sidelings at lower 

 levels that the Oxylobiums bloom in richest profusion. 



Let us now leave the summit of the mountain and follow the 

 sideling cuttings towards Mount St. Bernard. Here close to us 

 are some proteaceous plants, the charming Orites lancifolia, 

 restricted to South-east Australia and Tasmania, and the Alpine 

 Grevillea Aushalis. The shrub with white flowers and deep 

 sap-green leaves is a labiate, the Alpine Prostanthera cunea.a. 

 The spiny shrub with rich amber-coloured flowers is Daviesia 

 ulicina, and those orange-tinted flowers near it belong to another 

 of the Oxylobiums — 0. procumbens. Here is another of the 

 Rutaceae. This brilliant flowering shrub, with white flowers, 

 and leaves covered with tubercles, which emits so powerful an 

 aroma, is Eriostemon myoporoides ; and that roundish-leaved shrub, 

 with yellowish, acacia-like flowers, is in reality an acacia — Acacia 

 alpina. Let us now diverge from the road and follow this open, 

 grassy gully down to lower levels towards the Dargo. While 

 we are resting near this trickling cold mountain rivulet we will 

 look closer among the snow-grasses for minute plants. Ah ! 

 here is a Drosera. It is the Alpine drosera, 0. Arcturi. It has 

 among its leaves some struggling insects, which it will soon 

 destroy and assimilate to itself its nutrient substance. I know 

 that this phenomena of insect absorption by our Australian 

 Droseras has been questioned by no less an enthusiastic and 

 distinguished member of the Field Naturalists' Club than my 

 friend, Mr. D. Sullivan, F.L.S., of Moyston, but anyone 

 who takes the trouble to place a leaf of the Drosera 

 under the microscope when insects are in process of 

 absorption will observe the peculiar viscid liquid on 

 the points of the tentaculse acting as a solvent of the 

 insect substance, and the subsequent assimilation by endos- 

 mose through the softer cells forming the cuticle of the leaf of 

 such dissolved insect substance. The splendid drawing in 

 Professor M'Alpine's "Atlas of the Phanoragams " illustrates 

 the manner in which insects are captured admirably. The 

 small composite plant near us is Gnaphalium alpigenum, and 

 that large, tufted, yellow-flowering herb is Podohpis 

 acuminata. You will observe that the (bachelor's buttons) 

 Craspedia Richea are larger here than in the low-lands ; the 

 leaves are almost white (whitish grey), covered with dense 

 tomentose, and the flower heads (capitulum) are larger and 



