lls, one of which, Mount Tempest, is said to
be 910 feet in height; on the north-west portion a large tract of low
ground, mostly swampy, with several lagoons and small streams. The soil
is poor, and the grass usually coarse and sedge-like. All the timber is
small, and consists of the usual Eucalypti, Banksiae, etc. with abundance
of the cypress-pine (Callitris arenaria) a wood much prized for
ornamental work. The appearance along the shores of the Pandanus or
screw-pine, which now attains its southern limits, introduces a kind of
intertropical appearance to the vegetation. Among the other plants are
three, which merit notice from their efficacy in binding down the drift
sand with their long trailing stems, an office performed in Britain by
the bent grass (Arundo arenaria) here represented by another grass,
Ischaemum rottboellioide: the others are a handsome pink-flowered
convolvulus (Ipomoea maritima) one stem of which measured 15 yards in
length, and Hibbertia volubilis, a plant with large yellow blossoms.

PORPOISES AT MORETON BAY.

Among the marine animals of Moreton Bay are two cetacea of great
interest. The first of these is the Australian dugong (Halicore
australis), which is the object of a regular fishery (on a small scale
however) on account of its valuable oil. It frequents the Brisbane river
and the mudflats of the harbour, and is harpooned by the natives, who
know it under the name of Yung-un. The other is an undescribed porpoise,
a specimen of which, however, I did not procure, as the natives believed
the most direful consequences would ensue from the destruction of one;
and I considered the advantages resulting to science from the addition of
a new species of Phocoena, would not have justified me in outraging their
strongly expressed superstitious feelings on the subject. We observed
that whenever a drove of these porpoises came close inshore, a party of
natives followed them along the beach, and when a shoal of fish,
endeavouring to avoid their natural enemies, approached within reach, the
blacks rushed out into the water with loud cries, and, keeping their bag
nets close together, so as to form a semicircle, scooped out as many fish
as came within reach.

Our seining parties from the ship were usually very successful, but only
at one particular time of tide, or during the young flood. Sharks are
numerous close to the beach, but are generally small and harmless; one of
the natives however had lost his