THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 51 



forty rare Australian mosses. By Mr. J. Searle, nine species of 

 fresh-water shells, from Merri Creek — genera, Physa, Limnea, 

 Plaiiorbts, Bithynia, etc. ; also, some curious insects' cocoons, 

 By Mr. C. A. Topp, F.L.S., dried plants, from New South 

 Wales. 



After the usual conversazione the meetino: terminated. 



NOTES ON A TRIP TO THE UPPER MURRAY. 



By C. French, Jun. 



( Read before Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, \\th May, 1888. J 



(Concluded.) 



Leaving Wodonga for Ournie at 6 a.m., we had a pleasant 

 drive of eighty miles along the Murray. On the road several 

 black snakes were noticed, the road on the Victorian side being 

 very rough compared with the one on the New South Wales 

 side, and very steep in several places. Dodonaea viscosa grew 

 everywhere along the banks. We reached Ournie about eight 

 o'clock p.m., having to cross the Murray in the punt to get to 

 Mr. E. Jephcott's house, which was my destination, had tea, 

 and turned in. Next morning we went for a short collecting 

 trip close to the homestead, but got very few plants, amongst 

 which were Dodonaea viscosa, Pterostylis longi/olia, Pteris falcata, 

 Helipterum incanum, Hdipteruni anthemoides, Gompholobiiim 

 Huegeli. Mr. Jephcott next day took me to see one of the 

 prettiest sights in the way of plants that I have ever seen. It 

 was a very large swamp covered with the beautiful Li^niianthetnimi 

 fr£7Z(3/z^»z, a water plant with beautiful, yellow, fringy flowers, which, 

 as they were all in full flower, presented a very pretty sight. 

 Black, and also copper and brown, snakes were very numerous 

 here, and you can hardly go 100 yards without meeting several, 

 especially in the marshy swamps. I heard for a fact that at a 

 station a few miles lower down the river ninety-two black 

 snakes were taken out of an old log. I also heard, with regard 

 to crows, that they have been known to drag a fowl off its nest 

 and take the eggs, and are also very destructive to birds' 

 nests. 



We paid a visit to Ike Mount, situate about nine or ten miles 

 from the homestead, on the New South Wales side of the river. 

 We started at daylight in the morning, passing along several 

 small creeks, kangaroos darting from the scrub in all directions. 

 On the way to Ike Mount we found several interesting plants. 

 Green tree-snakes are found here, but we could not manage to 

 capture one on this visit. Reaching Ike Mount about one 

 o'clock, we had a bath in a small creek, which was very 

 refreshing after our rough walk, after which we boiled the billy 



