THE GEELONG NATURALIST. $ x0l 
him to take a holiday. At Forrest we exchanged the comfortable 
railway carriage for inside seats in Cawood's coach, the box seats 
having been secured by a couple of early birds bound for Apollo 
Bay. My companion has just returned from a journey of a thousand 
miles, chiefly on a camel, but he nevertheless found the jolting of 
the coach so little to his taste that he called upon the driver to stop 
and not knock him aboutin such an unceremonious fashion. The only 
answer from Mr Johnson was to whip up his horses and give us such 
a bump over a small stump on the track that our heads threatened 
to crack through the top of the coach. A halt was made at the 
Barramunga Hotel, and either the driver was mollified by a “shout” 
from one of the travellers or the road became better, as for the rest 
of the journey we were able to keep our seats without holding on 
by both hands. 
A remarkable change in the flora, of which indications had 
been perceived between Forrest and Barramunga, became more 
pronounced as the track led us on around steep sidings and past 
deep gullies up to Mount Sabine. Behind us we left messmate 
and stringy-bark with patches of grass-tree and the stunted scrub, 
common on sandy and unproductive soils, but these were now 
succeeded by forests of lofty trees and an undergrowth so thick as 
almost to form a wall on either side of the track. Occasionally 
glimpses were obtained of lovely gullies clothed with Dicksonia 
antarctica and A lsophila australis growing with aluxuriance unknown 
in the most carefully kept fernery. 
Along the track we observed many species of the smaller ferns, 
notably the major variety of Lomaria capensis which is characteristic 
of the Cape Otway forest; there were also Pteris excisa, 
Gleichenia circinata, Polypodium punctatum, and others which the 
rapid motion of the coach did not allow us to recognise with certainty. 
Amongst the plants forming the scrub, Pomaderris apetala was 
conspicuous, a sure sign of rich soil. Cassina aculcata and O. longifolia 
appeared here and there, while the tops of Aster argophyllus and 
Senecio Bedfordi showed above the surrounding shrubs. 
To those who have travelled in South Gippsland in the neighbour- 
hood of Poowong and Korumburra, the similarity of its flora to that — 
in the Cape Otway Ranges is apparent. Both are Mekozoie areas, 8/ 
and the rocks as well as the general contour of the country indicate 
their close geological affinity. The Gippsland area has now been 
geologically surveyed and the existence of many dykes of trap rock 
proved, but whether these are to be found in the Cape Otway 
district also is not known. An undulating surface with deep gullies 
through which streams of water almost constantly flow, and a 
markedly similar vegetation characterise the two areas. The strong 
dip of the strata, especially in the Cape Otway Ranges, suggest 
z/ considerable distfurbance, and to this the undulating surface may to 
someextentbedue. Themainagent, however,in producing the surface 
