18 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



when the rivers are in flood. Large areas of snow-plain country 

 offer only short periods of summer feeding to mobs of cattle 

 driven up with difficulty from the plains of the low country. 

 Much of this country is, however, far too poor and inaccessible 

 to be worth the risk and hardship of getting to it. Some of the 

 more favourable slopes may be profitable for sheep in time to 

 come, when the outlet along the river is made more certain from 

 floods. The present importance of this vast area lies in the fact 

 that it forms a large gathering ground for the supply of three 

 important rivers, which water the Gippsland plains. The 

 Wonnangatta or Mitchell, the Avon, and the Macallister all take 

 their rise in this mountain region. Marsupial life does not 

 appear to be very plentiful, but bird-life is fairly abundant along 

 the river valleys. Many indications of Lyre-birds were noted, and 

 one was seen close to the upper camp on the Macallister. The 

 scenery on the whole is wild and grand, but the district can only 

 be recommended to those who enjoy mountain travelling of the 

 roughest kind. 



[The paper was illustrated by a fine series of lantern slides. — 

 Ed. Vict. JVat] 



THE FRESH-WATER ALG^ OF VICTORIA. 



Part III. 



By a. D. Hardy, F.L.S., F.R.M.S. 



(Bead before the Field Naturalists'' Chib of Victoria, dtli April, 1906.) 

 In August, 1905 {vide Vict. Nat., vol. xxii., p. 62), I presented 

 an account of the Victorian Desmidiaceas. The list comprised 

 21 genera, including 156 species and varieties, of which 27 — 

 compiled from several sources — were queried as doubtful owing 

 to the omission of authors' names. 



In the present paper I am bringing the fresh-water Algae of this 

 State — with the exception of the class Bacillariese — up to date, 

 the following lists including new species and species not 

 uncommon in other parts but recorded for the first time for 

 Victoria. There is also included a number of Desmids supple- 

 mentary to the list already published, and others which, though 

 previously recorded, are noted for new localities. 



To Professor G. S. West I am indebted for his kindness in 

 naming and describing the new forms, and for his assistance in 

 the identification of others. 



Of the new forms two are Desmids, one a Monostroma, and 

 another an (Edogonium, while a fifth is a zygospore of marked 

 peculiarity, belonging to the not very uncommon Pleurotcetiium 

 ovatum, Nordst., var. tumidum, Mask., which is to be found in 

 several parts of Victoria. 



The new Monostroma was obtained from a quarry at Burnley 



