THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 137 



Wawra described in the "Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschrift " of 1881, at 

 page 69, a Swainsona as 6". inurrayana from the northern regions 

 of our colony. 



Geococcus pusillus ; J. Drummond and Harvey. 



In calcareous and sandy desert-localities from West-Australia 

 to the Murray- and Lach Ian-Rivers. 



This remarkable plant is mentioned here, to draw attention to 

 the possibility, as indicated already by Bentham, that it may be 

 the stemless state, fruiting sparsely underground, of a plant 

 developing otherwise, like most Cruciferje, its stem, inflorescence 

 and fruits in the ordinary manner. Its foliage is not unlike the 

 radical leaves of Sisymbrium cardaminoides, with which it is 

 moreover not rarely associated. Indeed a Brazilian Cardamine 

 of ordinary habit has been shown by Grisebach many years ago 

 (in " Abhandlungen der Akademie von Goettingen "), to produce 

 occasionally an abnormal state, resembling much our Geococcus, 

 from the same root. But although the Italian Morisia hypogcea is 

 in external appearance also very much like our Geococcus pusillus, 

 that plant has never yet been traced to a stage of higher develop- 

 ment, and seems therefore not to have arisen from mere 

 ■dimorphism. 



December, 1891. 



A WESTERN FOREST. 



By a Member of the Club. 



(Read before the Field Naturalist^ Club of Victoria, 16th 

 November, 1891.^ 



■" The troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up 

 mire and dirt," is the very embodiment of an evil spirit ; the 

 mountains are the emblem of lofty grandeur and strength ; the 

 rolling plain or the lake — the eye of the landscape, it is said — 

 possesses a soft, inexpressible loveliness, more noticeable, 

 perhaps, in the receding distance ; the desert mourns of melan- 

 choly and utter desolation. But what an irresistible charm there 

 is within the holy precincts of a forest — truly " the visible living 

 garment " of Infinite Nature ! Except when devoid of poetical 

 emotion (though if present, perhaps, unutterable), who has not 

 experienced the divinity of a forest, or felt as if God were nearer 

 in the forest than in any other works of His creation ? Have 

 not some of our poets endeavoured to touch but the hem of this 

 living garment, if, haply, they might be imbued with its spirit ? 

 Yes, they have 



