THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST 115 
generally the same northerly strike as [ar as Wonwondah. West 
of the Victoria Range, and about twenty miles from its most 
southerly point, is a smaller one, the Dundas, with its highest peak 
1535 feet above sea level, and trending towards the north west, 
while in the extreme north, just on the edge of the Mallee, is the 
isolated peak of Arapiles, only 1176 feet high, but nevertheless 
more remarkable perhaps than any other mountain of the whole 
series. It rises from the midst of an extensive tertiary plain, 
apparently unconnected with any other elevation, and the observer 
is surprised to find an old palaeozoic rock in such a situation. The 
view from its summit can scarcely be surpassed in Victoria, the 
whole of the variegated scenery of the west being visible from it. 
Eastward, the horizon is bounded by the serrated chains of the 
Grampians; to the north and west stretch vast plains, unbroken by 
the smallest elevation; southward, the numerous lakes of the 
Wimmera country dot the surface in the foreground, while beyond, 
the rugged outlines of Dundas contrast strongly with rounded 
volcanic hills in the far distance. 
The ranges mentioned are the principal, but by no means the only 
ones in this part of the district, for between Dundas and Victoria, 
other minor chains of low elevation can be traced, and east of the 
Serra, the Wannon is enclosed for some miles of its course by two 
parallel rows of hills; in fact, by climbing any one of the principal 
heights, the wave-like contour of the surface is at once apparent, 
the undulations running mainly ina north and south direction. 
Every one of the ranges is precipitous on one side, and gradually 
sloping on the other. For the Serra, Victoria, and Arapiles, the 
steep side faces the east, and for the Black and Dundas Ranges, 
the west. The intervening valleys, however, are not simple 
synclinal troughs, being broken by those low and now almost 
obliterated chains of hills referred to. The dip is, of course, towards 
the sloping side, but varies considerably both in direction and angle. 
The following are observations made for some of the ranges:— 
Mt. Arapiles: dip to W.S.W. at an angle of 10°. 
Mt. Dundas (summit): dip to N.E. with angle as high as 30°. 
Serra Range (in the pass between Sturgeon and Abrupt): dip 
to W.N.W. by N., and varying in angle from 10° to 209. 
It is thus seen that the dip, and therefore the strike of the 
Dundas and Serra Ranges, are almost at a right angle, but the 
intervening range, the Victoria, with the same general dip as the 
Serra, yet varies somewhat, so that in some parts its direction 
presents an approach to parallelism with that of Dundas, and these 
two ranges may be the extremities of a great synclinal curve. In 
the ranges which I have examined, no sign of an anticlinal fold is 
visible, all breaking off abruptly on the steep side. Standing on 
the top of Dundas and looking west, no other hills can be seen, 
