60 
The South Jnstralian Naturalist 
Near Finniss township the river is crossed by a fine railway 
bridge, the piers, 50 feet in height, being built nearly 60 years ago 
of the local stone. The bridge is just now being strengthened to 
carry the new engines and much of the strikingly fine stone-work 
IS being covered with the more utilitarian cement. 
We were informed by Mr. Henley that during the re-excava- 
tions a further quantity of the green glauconitic clay referred to 
by Prof. Howchin (Roy. Soc. XXIV, p. 245) under the title of 
“Older Tertiary Outlier,” was found. (See Geoi. of S.A., How- 
chin, p. 462). 
Above and below the bridge beds, river gravels were noticed 
much above the present level of the river. Here also picturesque 
pools shaded by tea tree and gum and bordered with bul-rushes 
form ideal places for the growth of aquatic vegetation. 
Below the bridge the river branches out forming a delta, the 
streams meandering through the river-flats, where still pools alter- 
nate with sluggish creeks. This part of the river was the happy 
hunting ground for the aquarist in search of freshwater M 
while the flats themselves aflforded opportunity for the study of 
ecological distribution of the plants native to such a low-lying 
locality, with moisture always not far from the surface and sub- 
ject to irregular flooding. The botanist of the party found the dis- 
tribution of the various species of rushes, reeds etc., in such a 
locality governed by almost imperceptible differences in level, six 
inches of elevation being sufficient to cause great changes in the 
species and families represented. 
Away from the river rise the hills formed of the older Cam- 
brian rocks which are also known to underlie the glacial deposits 
of the flats. Originally these hills were very thickly clothed with 
large gum trees, but sixty years of felling to supply the metropolis 
with firewood has denuded the ranges and the big gums, mainly 
peppermint, yellow gum and river red gum, are few and far 
between and as a result the strong soil once held by the forest 
has been largely denuded. 
The flats with their thin sandy soils, the result of the wear^ 
ing down of the glacial drift, notwithstanding a rainfall of about 20 
Ins. annuallv, supports a typical mallee-scrub formation, —F. *- 
mosa (the Common Mallee), E. leptophylla (the Hooked Mallee), 
E. calycogoyia, (the Red Mallee), E. oleosa (the Oil Mallee) an 
E. gracilis (the White Mallee) were collected. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Henley, of Gilberts, some of 
the party were motored to the Black Swamp. The contrast be- 
tween the rank growth along the wet swamps and that of the 
kills is very striking. These fresh water swamps are very pro- 
