THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 143 



the succulent herbage on the margin are climbing sundews 

 {Drosera), showing flowers in varieties of pink and white. Here, 

 too, is an Eriostemon, a bush covered with small white flowers. 

 Pluck a leaf therefrom, bruise it, rub your flesh with it, and a few 

 hours subsequently a blister will appear on your skin like that of 

 a burn or scald. If chemically treated the oil of the " blister " 

 plant might prove useful in pharmacy. Near the end of the 

 swamp is a patch of Bottle-brush (Callistemon), with a few 

 flaming flowers blooming beyond their time. The flowers at 

 seasons yield a nectar of seductive propensities. Honey-eating 

 birds love to regale themselves on this nectar, which laps their 

 senses into a dreamy repose — in plainer words, they become 

 drunken, and may be captured easily by hand on the ground 

 about the bushes. We have heard of insects becoming affected 

 "by the soporific influence of certain flowers, but in no other 

 instance have we heard of birds. 



Eventually we arrive within the delightful shades of a virgin 

 Xarri forest. We are hardly prepared for such a surprise. Our 

 first thoughts naturally revert to Gippsland, but a grander forest 

 is here. All around, to the exclusion of the other great trees, we 

 ^ee Karri holding undisputed sway in regiments of huge, stately, 

 cylindrical figures, resembling White Gums. They average about 

 J200 feet in height, with uplifted ponderous branches, like rafters 

 supporting a " wilderness of foliaged skies." The foliage, 

 however, is tufty, and not so thick as Jarrah, therefore plenty of 

 light is diffused through the sylvan aisles. Negotiating a fallen 

 monarch here and there, and penetrating deeper into the vast 

 primeval woods, we indeed feel that 



" Psalms of great forests make holy the spot." 



The ground scrub is chiefly a variety of native hazel (Gr^ptandra), 

 but not so dense as the hazel thickets of Gippsland fame. The 

 eucalyptian giants thrive in rich reddish-coloured soil on a lime- 

 stone formation. The stone occasionally outcrops, or by sub- 

 terranean subsidences causes curious deep inverted cone-shaped 

 hollows to exist, over which a bird's-eye view is obtained of the 

 scrub below. In a mossy nook a small Asplenium (trichomanes) is 

 :growing in pretty bunches. It is a pleasant association to reflect 

 that this little fern is found in the far-off British Isles — the home 

 of our adventurous fathers — as well as in these western forest 

 dells. As a rule our vast western territory is singularly devoid of 

 ferns; the number at present known can just be counted on one's 

 -fingers. The noisy Scrub Bird (peculiar to these parts) with 

 powerful penetrating notes wakes up the echoes of the forest. 

 Lorikeets in small companies are screeching aloft; in the leafy 

 boughs a few other gorgeous parrots are noted busily engaged in 



