AUSTRALIA. 279 



as the old one, but being of a brownish-red colour, it is not so 

 pleasing to the eye. 



Strolling on the beach of Port Fairy, I beheld for the first time 

 the famous giant oarweed, Sarcophycus potatorum, with a stem 

 as long and as thick as a man's leg, and leaves like cow-hides 

 stretched out, but measuring from twelve to twenty feet long. 

 I shall be puzzled to find specimens small enough to preserve, 

 but must at least bring scraps. 



One day Mr. H. and I rode from Melbourne to Tower Hill 

 lake, about nine miles from town. On reaching the steep bank 

 of the lake we looked down 200 feet into what must have been 

 an extensive crater in old times, but is now partly a lake and 

 partly a marsh. In the midst is a wooded island, rising like a 

 cone 300 feet above the lake. There are two or three summits, 

 in which there are said to be small craters. The borders all 

 round the lake have similar marks of volcanic origin, and all 

 are beautifully wooded. We had only time for a hurried 

 scramble clown the steep sides of the lake ; and the ground being 

 covered with rich grass, I got but few flowers, but among them 

 was the little Australian forget-me-not, with white flowers, the 

 beautiful Ajuga Australis, a fairy violet, a nettle, and an indigo. 

 On the waters of the lake myriads of a little floating fern, 

 looking like duckweed, were swimming. Its name is Azdla. 

 For its size, which is only an inch across, it is extremely pretty. 



In a walk to Toorak, where the Governor lives, a very pretty 

 place, I picked Brunonia Australis for the first time. To the 

 eye it is like Jasione montana, but with taller and naked stalks, 

 and deeper blue flowers. 



Brighton Hotel, Port Phillip, November 5. 

 I came here yesterday, and am settled at a pretty fair 

 hotel close to the beach, where I am lodged in a garret room 

 up in the roof, lighted by a skylight of one pane of glass about 

 twice the size of an ordinary " porthole." I can stand upright in 

 nearly half of the room, and sit comfortably in most of the rest. 

 I do all my algae work at a little table, hiding the papers and 

 parcels under the bed. Though only at the opposite side of Port 

 Phillip, some of the commonest of the Geelong weeds are not 

 to be seen here, and vice versa. One fine Polysiphonia, two 

 or three feet long, which I gathered here ; was new to me, and 



