20 THE TICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



where for considerable lengths of time they are snow-covered, 

 and it may be just possible that it is the weight of the snow 

 which the branches have to bear that, when they are young and 

 flexible, causes them to grow in this manner ; at the same time, 

 if this be the reason, it is curious that the effect is not universal, 

 though this may be due to the different methods of growth of 

 the branches in various kinds of trees and their power of resistance 

 to downward pressure. 



Close to the top of Goon Murk our botanist found a species 

 of the composite Erichthites, which Baron von Mueller states is 

 new to Victoria, being only known previously from Western 

 Australia. 



The north side of the range, at least towards the eastern end, 

 presents a great contrast to the south side. There are no deep 

 gorges and almost precipitous hillsides, but the country gently 

 slopes away towards the border between Victoria and New South 

 Wales, and the streams draining it flow quietly along without 

 excavating for themselves deep valleys. From the top of Goon 

 Murk we travel on down the north side. For some time we have 

 waratahs, and musk and hazel and " gebungs," the latter bearing 

 fruit, which is said to be edible. It is round, perhaps half an 

 inch in diameter, with a smooth yellowish leathery skin when 

 ripe, and a stone inside to which the pulpy, almost slimy, green 

 mesocarp clings persistently. On attempting to eat it you gain a 

 good idea of what boiled leather must be like. 



Leaving the waratahs and hazel behind, and still gradually 

 descending, we come to a different class of country. It is much 

 more open, with grass and low white-gums. On the bank of a creek 

 we find Sphagnum moss growing, with Lomaria alpina (seen here 

 for the first time), and L. fiiiviatilis ; Dianella abounds, and so 

 does StyHdium, whose red blossoms take the place of the red 

 Dipodium pundatuvi, which was as constantly seen south of the 

 range as Stylidium now is to the north. 



Amongst other plants are present — Drymophila cyanocarpa, 

 Beckcea giinniana, Veronica gracilis, Mimulus repens, and every- 

 where the little Viola hederacea. After a most interesting day we 

 camp for the night on a little bit of rising ground by the side of a 

 large open flat, enclosed by low hills with woods of stringybark and 

 white-gums (9). Part of the flat is occupied by a bog, many acres 

 in extent, of Sphagnum moss. A stream of clear, deep water, with 

 grassy banks, runs through the flat, on which cattle are grazing, 

 and as the sun sets and a low white mist rises the whole scene 

 calls to mind an English meadow backed by woods and with 

 a clear rivulet wandering lazily across it. However, the ferocious 

 bites of the bull-dog ants, whom we have innocently dispossessed, 

 and as night comes on the howling of a pack of dingoes in the 

 distance, and every now and then the screech of a phalanger as 



