THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 159 



making preparations, after the arrival of the stores, for a start in 

 the morning, and by two of us in attempting to catch bears. 

 The missile intended to bring down a bear cannons harmlessly off 

 the latter, and brings down instead the head of one of our party, 

 necessitating a little amateur surgery. 



22ND November. — We leave some of our stores in the safe 

 charge of Mrs. Keppel, and start out along the Wood's Point road, 

 being assured that we shall never get anywhere near the Yarra Falls. 

 At one time, when the Wood's Point diggings were in full working 

 order, the road from Marysville was an important one, and well 

 kept, but now it is falling into a bad state, and sees but little 

 traffic. This is the more to be regretted because it passes 

 through beautiful scenery, and is in parts very picturesque. Just 

 outside Marysville is Rubbly Hill, steep and well worthy of its 

 name. The roadside is bright, in parts, with purple patches of 

 Tetratheca ciliata, and everywhere shrubs of Aotus villosa are 

 gay with orange-coloured masses of blossom, but perhaps the 

 prettiest flower is that of a species of Eriostemon, white, with 

 sometimes a tinge of pale pink. Occasionally we pass clumps of 

 large white gums and blackwood, sometimes the blue gum is 

 seen, but the most common forms are the species fissilis and 

 melliodora. The road passes up the ridge, keeping to the high 

 ground, and runs at first almost due east towards Mt. Arnold. 

 Some four miles out of Marysville we find ourselves looking over 

 a deep valley filled with acacias and the usual rich scrub, whilst 

 up the opposite mountain side runs a remarkable sassafras gully. 

 With the exception of just this cleft, triangular in form with its 

 long-drawn-out apex reaching nearly to the hill top, the whole of 

 the steep hillside is covered with gurus, the sparse foliage of 

 which forms a strong contrast to that of the closely packed 

 sassafras trees, with their dense and bright green mass of leaves — 

 each tree of the typical cone-like shape. The road turns sharply 

 and crosses the head of the valley ; as it does so we once more 

 get into the region of beech trees, which border all the valleys 

 falling away to the north and south of the ridge along which we 

 are passing. Another mile brings us to a sharp turn in the road, 

 known as Tommy's Bend, just beyond which we halt for the 

 midday rest. 



Along the road collecting had begun as soon as Marysville 

 was left. Two specimens of the Pink-breasted Robin were 

 taken and the Coach-whip Bird, the Brown Tree Creeper, the 

 Striated Acanthiza, and the Bronze Cuckoo noted. 



So far as insects were concerned the weather — it is too cold — is 

 not promising. The flowering shrubs of Aotus and Pultensea yield 

 nothing to the umbrella except a few specimens of a red-coloured 

 Curculio (Rhinolia, sp.) Numerous upturned logs yield little, but 

 under the bark of the trees we meet with somewhat better success. 



