58 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



tracted examination of a gulley for lichens, the continued repetition 

 of the same note for several hours becomes monotonous, and the 

 bell-bird becomes a bore. Very few other birds were seen ; and, 

 indeed, animal as well as vegetable life is rather scarce on the 

 burnt ground in Gippsland. 



The journey to Orbost by coach is not very interesting, 

 especially after passing Lake Tyers. 



The soil between Cunninghame and the valley of the Snowy 

 River is poor, and the forest trees rather stunted. They are 

 chiefly stringybark, with here and there an ironbark or occa- 

 sionally a few white gums. A recent bush fire has passed 

 through, and left them and the soil all black and barren-looking, 

 and the whole country dismal. About Lake Tyers the view is 

 more open, and as the bush fires have not been so recent, the 

 country looks better. There is also a greater variety in the 

 vegetation. But the lichenologist finds only a poor return for 

 the exertions necessary in hunting for specimens. 



After a dreary drive of six or seven hours through the charred 

 forest, the coach was stopped about three miles from Orbost by a 

 gentleman with a buggy. Having been previously written to by 

 Mr. A. J, Campbell, a prominent member of the Club, he had 

 come to meet the excursionists, and had been awaiting the 

 belated coach for several hours. He gave to the sole surviving 

 excursionist a hearty welcome, drove him to his home, enter- 

 tained him most hospitably for a week, advised him as to the 

 most likely spots for lichens, and, with a warmth of scientific 

 interest and a self-denial rarely met, gave him personal guidance 

 to all the places about Orbost where there is still unburned scrub. 

 These are all in Numerella — i.e., the west side of the Snowy 

 River. They are not many, and not large, but they are rather 

 widely separated. Putting them all together, they would be 

 probably not more than thirty acres. 



The best place was a belt of scrub along the north shore of 

 Lake Wat Wat. Even here — and the remark applies to all East 

 Gippsland — the luxuriant growth of clematis and smilax, which 

 spread themselves among the upper branches of the scrub, 

 produces a dense shade, in which lichens will not grow at all. 

 Only in the more open spots in the scrub and on the outside of 

 it are any lichens to be found. And as the fire had burned into 

 the scrub as far as it could, there was left but a narrow field for 

 examination. Two new lichens were found here — a Stictina, 

 which has been named pusiulosa, and a minute variety of a 

 Leptogiwn common enough throughout Victoria : — Z. leucoau-pwn 

 (Taylor), var. mimis (Wilson). Pretty large collections, how- 

 ever, were made of several species already found in smaller 

 quantities in other parts of East Gippsland, especially of a 

 Chiodecton, which has been named enccphalodes. 



