THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 137 
And earth and air, the things of life, 
To mingle them anew, 
And store them safe in guarding earth, 
To meet man’s hunger need. 
Then lo! the wonder grows complete, 
The germ within the seed 
Becomes a sermon or a song, 
A kiss or kindly deed. 
THE QUEST OF CALLISTEMON LOPHANTHUS. 
By D. W. C. Shiress. 
Breakfast at 4.30 a.m., paper train 5.30 a.m., found 
Messrs. Cheel, Bott, and the writer speeding into Mitta- 
gong from Hill Top—ofl the chain. To a stranger the 
paper train might appear casual, and although it left us 
rods off the Mittagong Station, we were too eager for the 
journey ahead of us to mind trifles; and as we swung 
along the main thoroughfare of that charming little town- 
ship, and settled into our stride, we soon forgot paper 
trains as we left the world behind us. 
The Berrima Road is lined with useful Hucalypts, 
and it seems a pity that the Shire Councillors do not 
make an avenue of such beautiful trees as Sieberiana 
(Mountain Ash), ‘‘amygdalina,’’? ‘‘corymbosa,’’ and 
‘dives,’ which grows by the wayside. Corymbosa was in 
full bloom, and although we noticed a few ‘‘Honey Eat- 
ers,’’ the absence of birds was very marked, only a Butcher 
Bird and a distant Magpie were singing their morning 
song of thanksgiving. All the world was ‘gay, however, 
and it was glorious drinking in the ozone of the moun- 
tain air—crisp and sharp—walking was a pleasure. The 
rain of the past week had freshened the earth, and a 
plentiful supply of fungus growths were noticed. One 
of the party was busily engaged eating mushrooms, and 
was sorely tempted to try a Boletus granulatus, a golden 
beauty, found under some Pinis wmsignis by the wayside. 
Our fungus authority, Mr. Cheel, remarked how this 
Boletus was prized by the i"rench, and if its flavour was 
on a par with its size, then a fortune awaits the success- 
ful cultivator. 
At the turn off to Jellore Creek, 214 miles from 
Mittagong, one of the sudden changes from shale to 
sandstone is met with, and here one finds himself back 
