13 



wings ; breast and under part of neck, scarlet ; lower part of belly, 

 white ; bill and feet, black. The breast of the female is also red ; 

 but the whole of the plumage of a brownish tinge. 



On the cliffs we shall find now, in full flower, the beautiful 

 Leucopogon Richei (N. O. Epacridese), or native currant, a large 

 dense shrub growing only by the sea, and attaining to a height of 

 from four to six or eight feet; the berries are white, small, and of a 

 herby flavour. In D'Entrecasteaux's voyage, in search of La 

 Perouse, a French naturalist, named Eiche, was lost for three days 

 on the south coast of New Holland, and supported himself princi- 

 pally upon the berries of this plant, in commemoration of which 

 circumstance, it has received its specific name.* Another smaller 

 species, L. virgatus, the petals of which are very minutely fringed 

 is also common on sandy soil. When mentioning the elegant 

 Stylidium graminifolium (grass leaved jack-in-the-box) in our last 

 chapter, which may be easily known by its numerous grassy -like 

 radical leaves, and pretty pink flowers, on a long naked stem, we 

 omitted to mention a peculiarity in it, which is said to afford much 

 amusement to the aborigines, who are, generally speaking, fond of, 

 and have a name for, many of the plants common in their own 

 territories. The stigma lies at the apex of a long column, sur- 

 rounded and concealed by the anthers ; this column is exceedingly 

 irritable, and hangs down on one side of the flower, until it is 

 touched, when it suddenly springs up and shifts to the opposite 

 side of the blossom or calyx.f Brown, in his " Prodromus Florae 

 Novcb Hollandice," p. 423, thinks that this irritability exists in all 

 the species (forty-five in number) in different degrees $ and we 

 have also observed the same in the labellum of Pterostylis, 

 (hooded orchis,) which is so common under Eucalypti. 



That rustle in the grass, by yonder swamp, reminds us that 



" It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, 



And that wares many walking;" — Julius Ccesar, act. ii. sc. 1. 



* Backhouse. 



f Lindley's Veg. Kingdom, 2nd ed. p. 696. 



% " Columnar irritabilitas, quae, in Stylidii graminiifolii quindecim circiter 

 abhinc annis a D. Paterson et Dav. Burton visa est, et quam nuper in pluribus 

 speciebus observavimus, forsan in omnibus licet gradibus diversis, existit." 



C 



