146 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



may be found, if carefully looked for ; but as Baron von Mueller 

 was anxious that I should try, if possible, to make some additions 

 to the Victorian flora, so as yet to be in time for insertion in the 

 " Key," I paid more attention to the flowering plants than I might 

 otherwise have done. As on my last trip to Lake Albacutya 

 district, I was very much surprised to see so many introduced 

 weeds growing here, there, and everywhere, the well-known Cape 

 weed, Cryptostemma caleiidulacea, being very common ; ranun- 

 culi, lychnis, sonchus, and many other well-known weeds being 

 in great numbers, and from between which the beautiful Swain- 

 S07iia froacmbetis pushed forth its pretty lavender-coloured, pea- 

 shaped flowers. 



Returning to the hotel for breakfast, I could judge, from what 

 little I had seen, that I should be losing my time in hunting for 

 plants anywhere near the township ; so I engaged a trap and 

 drove out to the Mallee, distance to the N.W. about 9 miles. The 

 place for miles was fairly one continuous chain of mud holes, 

 interspersed with saline flats, covered with surface-water; and the 

 day being very hot, the mosquitoes were in clouds — huge fellows, 

 with a long proboscis — and were very annoying to both men and 

 horses. 



Lockhart station is very prettily situated on an eminence above 

 the so-called Tatiara Creek — why this is called a creek did not 

 seem very clear, as it is simply an old watercourse, and, although 

 now so wet and green, is, I understand, quite burned up during 

 the summer months. In the neighbourhood of the station, and 

 for miles around it, everything has been eaten down by sheep, 

 even the prickly-box (Biirsaria spinosa) having been bitten down 

 to a low stunted shrub of about 2 ft. high, and in one of 

 these tussocks I found a specimen of Dampiera rosmarinifolia, a 

 somewhat rare plant. 



We now came to a paddock — in which grew thousands of 

 plants in full bloom — of Craspedia Riclica, Chaincescilla, Hypoxis, 

 Bulbine, and many other of our commonest Melbourne plants, 

 and these I, of course, did not collect. 



The Mallee was reached in due course, but such a desolate 

 place— not a plant in bloom save z. (ev; Eucalyptus gracilis and 

 two or three acacias. I found a few specimens of a dwarf 

 Cassinia, on which the flowers of last season still adhered. 



The dog and rabbit proof fence runs through this belt of 

 Mallee, which looked as dry and barren as the former part of the 

 drive from Serviceton looked wet and miserable ; but had I had 

 time, I should have much liked to have gone through along this 

 line to Albacutya — distance, I believe, some sixty or seventy 

 miles in a direct line ; to travel this distance, however, water 

 would have to be carried in canvas water-bags, and this means, of 

 course, time and trouble. 



