to enable me to resume my labors also in this direction, T would respectfully recom- 
mend, as one of the needful measures, that my laboratory, with all its appliances, 
together with its former modest working vote, be restored to my use, and that the 
simple analyses of soil, lately — so I understand — performed there, may be carried out 
at a convenient closeness to the department, to which this particular branch of the 
public service belongs, and in a special structure for that purpose, which need not be 
expensive. 
Turning now to the field services during the year, it is incumbent on me to 
allude, at least briefly, to the various journeys performed by myself, such as they have 
been, without the needful votes, either for any field collector or for the requirements 
of the head of the department. 
From the 11th to the 17th December I was engaged in various observations on 
the plants in the forest regions of the Upper Yarra and the southern branches of the 
Goulburn River, adding to my definitions and localities of the plants of Victoria, 
and obtaining some species of leading interest for the u educational collections. 77 In 
these sylvan tracts I also instituted various measurements of the heights of Eucalyptus 
amygdalina (var. regnans), so far as my brief stay admitted, the greatest heights 
obtained being approximately 400 feet. To some apparently higher trees I could not 
obtain access during my short stay and with the means at my command, as the dense 
jungle would require to be cleared for a base line. It is my intention to resume these 
investigations at an early date, with the prospect of renewed su pport in the commenced 
new financial } r ear. The magnificent Festuca dives, discovered by me in West Gipps- 
land during my travels in 1860, was now ascertained to have a wide range through 
the forests towards the Yarra and Goulburn sources, where, among grasses, it forms 
a most stately object, the height of twelve feet being not unusual, while occasionally 
this superb grass in the ferntree gullies, on rivulets, attains in rich soil to seventeen 
feet. Among grasses, fit to live under the shade of trees, it becomes for humid locali- 
ties one of the most eligible ; for although the broad foliage is somewhat coarse, yet 
the panicle of seeds is very ample and nutritious. This Festuca is one of the most 
desirable for scenic group planting in horticulture. Mr. C. Walter , to whose disin- 
terested zeal the field service of my institution owes so much, was in this short journey 
part of the time my companion. The completion of the railway line to Wodonga 
afforded an easy opportunity for approach to the Hume River district, which was left 
by me untraversed, when in 1854 I forced, as a pioneer, my way through the whole 
length of the Mitta-mitta country (then ascending, naming, and measuring Mount 
Hotham and other alpine heights), and when in 1855 I approached and traversed our 
north-eastern high alps from the Snowy River. With the utterly reduced means of 
my department this new journey through a large, and by me hitherto entirely unex- 
plored district, could not have been carried out even in its hurried course, had it not 
been for the generosity of the settlers on the line of my travels, among whom I should 
especially mention James Findlay, Esq., of Towang, and Sydney Watson, Esq., of 
Walwa, as deserving prominent recognition for the aid afforded to this enterprise. 
The lagoons and other waters of the Hume system afforded, at even a hasty inspec- 
tion, on but a few places, many rare water plants, among which the Brasenia was 
particularly conspicuous. Many plants, new to Victoria, and a few new to science, 
recorded among those in the appended list, were obtained from the watercourses and 
the high romantic granite mountains of the extra-alpine regions, and additional obser- 
vations were instituted for my descriptive volume on the highland and partly glacier 
vegetation, large masses of icy snow existing in January on the gentle eastern terminal 
slopes of the ranges, while on the abrupt western faces the glaciers had just only 
melted before the summer sun. 
To tourists, who may desire to spend some time in the fresh, cool and bracing 
alpine air, away from the midsummer heat of our lowlands, the ascent of the alps 
along the Hume River is best accomplished from the eastern side, whence the more 
gradual slopes render the access of horses comparatively easy ; while, however, the 
banks of the river are stretching on many places to the western base of the snowy 
mountains, from whence starting points are obtainable for pedestrian ascents from 
lovely camps at the very foot of the bold and grand chain of ranges. Once mounted, 
the summits of the alps are traversable for many miles without much impediment, the 
whole terminal portions, from 6,000 to 7,000 feet elevation, being above the region of 
trees and even shrubs, open therefore in all directions ; while a second spring can be 
enjoyed by the visitor here long after the spring flowers of the lowlands have passed 
