128 THE VICTORIAN NATtTttALIST. 



is very curious, and from this, not from statural resemblance, the 

 specific name apostasioides was derived. I regard Apostasiaceae 

 as a distinct order, intermediate between Orchidese and Bur- 

 manniaceae. 



ZOOLOGICAL NOTES ON A TRIP TO WALHALLA. 



By Arthur Dendy, M.Sc, F.L.S. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria^ 

 nth November, iSSg.) 



It is hardly necessary to say that the present paper does not pre- 

 tend to be in any way an exhaustive account of the fauna of 

 Walhalla. All that I aim at is to record a few very simple ob- 

 servations upon some of the lower forms of life met with in that 

 locality during a visit of little more than a week. 



Walhalla, as most of my audience are doubtless aware, at any 

 rate after listening to Mr. Tisdall's paper at the last meeting of 

 the Club, is a small gold-mining township in North Gippsland, 

 rather more than loo miles from Melbourne, and situated on a 

 small creek which flows into the Thomson River a few miles 

 below the township. Hemmed in on all sides by lofty and pre- 

 cipitous hills, the township lies in a very narrow valley, and a few 

 years ago, before the existing coach road was made, was very 

 difficult of access. The surrounding mountains, composed of 

 Silurian shales and sandstones, in which lie the gold-bearing quartz 

 reefs, are heavily timbered with gum-trees. Within a radius of a 

 mile or two from the centre of the township the hillsides have 

 been cleared of all the larger timber, and in its place a dense 

 growth of scrub has appeared. The wood-cutting is carried on 

 principally by Italians, and an almost incredible quantity is 

 annually consumed at the Long Tunnel and other gold mines. 

 Tramways have been cut for miles along the hillsides in almost 

 every direction for bringing the wood in to the mines. These 

 tramways, with their accompanying steep " shutes," down which 

 the wood is literally poured into the township below, form a 

 conspicuous feature in the landscape, and being almost the only 

 level ground available, form the principal walks of the neighbour- 

 hood. One great advantage about the tram lines is the impossi- 

 biUty of losing one's way upon them, which a stranger would be 

 pretty sure to do if he struck into the bush for any distance. 



Along the tram lines, then, many of my rambles were taken, 

 and many of my specimens captured. Wherever I went, 

 whether along the tramways or through the scrub, I might have 

 been followed by the track of overturned stones and logs, for my 

 attention was principally directed to the inhabitants of the dark 



