THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 175 



valley of the Goulburn. Far away the purple peaks of the 

 Cathedral Hill, near Alexandra, with its bold outline, stand out 

 clearly amongst the ranges which fade away behind it into the 

 dim distance. As the road winds round the crest of the Spur it 

 cuts across the top of a deep gully filled with a luxuriant growth 

 of sassafras, beech, silver wattle, hazel, musk, and great tree 

 ferns ( Dicksonia antarctica) ; while higher still up the hillside a 

 fire has cleared out all the scrub, and burnt black the stems of 

 the hill ferns (Alsophila australis). It is noticed, with regard to 

 the wattles, that as the gullies are approached Acacia decurrens 

 disappear and gives place to Acacia dealbata. The descent to 

 Fernshaw is rapidly made, and we camp for the night in a lovely 

 spot by the Watts River, from which Kirby — who is an 

 enthusiastic fisher — succeeds in extracting one blackfish. Near 

 to Fernshaw are seen the Boobook Owl and the Nankeen 

 Kestrel. 



2ND December. — The scene is so lovely, with the mists melting 

 away up the mountain sides and the river noisily flowing along 

 over its stony bed, that we cannot help regretting that, in the 

 interests of the large towns, this beautiful spot is practically closed 

 to travellers. Of course, the coach road still leads through it ;. 

 but to pass by in the heat and dust of the day is very different 

 from wandering along by the river or up the Spur as the evening 

 draws on and the far away hills are gradually deepening in colour 

 until the sunlight touches only their summits and leaves the 

 valleys in deep shade. To see any spot at its best, and to 

 thoroughly enjoy it, one must live there from day to day. Here 

 in Australia, especially, the evening with its soft rich colours and 

 warm after-glows and the early morning with its mists and 

 subdued but clear brightness, seem as if they were designed to 

 compensate for the harsh hot light of the midday when every- 

 thing stands out distinctly and there is no blending of colour or 

 of form. 



Leaving our camp, we again take the Healesville road. A 

 considerable number of the beautiful Papilio macleayanus are 

 flying about, and in the Leptospermum scrub a few insects are 

 captured, including the longicorn Trichomesia newmani. From 

 the road close to the Gracedale Hotel the works in connection 

 with the new Watts River scheme can be seen on the opposite 

 hillside. After wandering leisurely along we reach Healesville late 

 in the afternoon. 



3RD December. — A few hours are spent at Yarra Glen, where 

 numbers of the pretty blue butterfly, Ialmenus evagorus, are cap- 

 tured, with their pupae in scores on the young wattle. We also 

 add to our list two more planarians, Geoplana munda and hoggii. 

 The former is widely distributed, being found in New South 



