THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 25 



be obtained. Gradually the road passes into more timbered 

 country. Small eucalypti of various species, interspersed with 

 Wattles, Tea-trees, Banksias, &c, abound, the undergrowth being 

 composed of ferns, tussocky grass, heath-like shrubs, and a small 

 variety of Xanthorrhcea australis, the larger Grass-tree. These 

 must be very beautiful during their flowering season, but in 

 January nothing was to be seen of them except the short brown 

 trunks crowned by the hard, long, narrow grass-like leaves, the 

 tall flowering-spikes being represented by what seem to be dead 

 upright poles. These poles are in such profusion that they 

 impart quite a weird aspect to the scenery. 



In spring and early summer the Grass-trees would present a 

 very different appearance, when the dark stumps, surmounted by 

 the graceful bending leaves, each with its spike of creamy-white 

 starlike flowers, often three or four feet in height, must make an 

 exquisite scene. 



As the road nears Anglesea it dips down several hundred feet 

 through well-timbered country. We found the Anglesea River to 

 be a pretty sheet of water, from fifty to sixty yards broad, but 

 barely two miles long. Rowing up the river we soon came to a 

 full stop where the estuary commences in a number of small 

 freshwater streams. The ground between the streams is very 

 soft, being composed of a rich dark soil, thoroughly soaked with 

 moisture, but the growth of the plants in this soil is perfectly 

 marvellous. I measured specimens of the common Coral Fern, 

 Gleichenia circinata, nearly twenty feet high. The principal shrubs 

 were Cassinia and other species of Compositse, the Hazel, Poma- 

 derris apetala, with Pultencea daphnoides. The greater mass of 

 Tea-tree was Leptospermum scoparium, which was in full bloom. 

 Anything like the mosquitos I had never seen ; they were simply 

 in clouds, and of the largest size — in fact, we had finally to decamp 

 from the land into the boat. I was surprised to find bushes of 

 that prickly Proteacean, Persoonia juniperina, so near the coast, 

 as I had hitherto thought that it was confined to the Gippsland 

 hills. Huge clumps of reeds, Lepidosperma gladiatum, are to be 

 seen on both sides of the river. I am sure the entomologist 

 would be well satisfied with this district, for insect life abounds, 

 the Tea-tree bushes and other scrub forming good cover for 

 them. 



Two species of our Australian Dodder parasites were very 

 common, the small species, Cassytha glabella, twining itself round 

 grasses and reeds, while the large species, Cassytha melantha, 

 could be seen on most of the smaller eucalypts. As this species 

 is so large the suckers with which it robs its victim can be 

 plainly discerned. The open spaces on the bank of the river 

 were covered with masses of beautiful white flowers ; these proved 

 to be a rather uncommon Rutacean, Boronia parviflora. 



