62 Geological Society. 



bed of lignite. At the spot referred to, pits have very recently been 

 opened for working the lignite, at the level of about four feet above 

 the surface of the lake. At the south head of Reid's Mistake, which 

 is the name for the sea-entrance to the inlet of Awaaba, similar beds 

 of sandstone occur, and these are traversed vertically by the trunks 

 of trees, while other trees lie horizontally in the same beds. Lines 

 of division, which appear to be owing to the contraction of the whole 

 mass, intersect both the trees and their matrix : these trees are found 

 at a somewhat higher level than the sea. At nearly the same level 

 in Nirritinbali (or Mutton-bird Island), off the entrance to Awaaba, 

 large stools and stems of trees occur in conglomerate, which conglo- 

 merate reposes on beds of lignite. Fossil trees are also found in 

 conglomerate reposing on lignite on the coast north of the entrance 

 to Awaaba, at Redhead, at Newcastle, and at Nobby's Island, off the 

 mouth of the Hunter river. At Nobby's Island the trees lie in a pebbly 

 grit, passing into conglomerate, and are mineralized by hydrate of iron ; 

 they are from 10 to 150 feet long. At none of the above places, 

 however, do the trees occur in such profusion as at Kurrur-kurran. 

 Fragments of roots and of the boughs of trees, divested of their 

 bark, are found at Munniwarree, Wollogong and Mulibinbak, im- 

 bedded in beds of sandstone at a higher level than the beds which 

 contain the fossil trees. Similar fragments are found spread over 

 the surface at Wollon Hill, at Holworthy Down, and elsewhere in 

 the colony ; it is probable therefore that the bed of sandstone con- 

 taining trees in a vertical position, which is found nearly at the same 

 level above the sea at Kurrur-kurran and the other places above- 

 mentioned, is the true geological position of that ancient forest from 

 which the enormous quantities of the fragments of wood which occur 

 either spread over the surface, or imbedded in the sandstone above 

 and below the lignite, have been derived. 



The sandstones of this formation, and in this vicinity, have been 

 powerfully affected by the action of intrusive rocks ; they are tra- 

 versed, at Nobby's Island and on the coast near Newcastle, by trap 

 dykes. The author refers to the 'Voyage' of Flinders, page 131, 

 for an account of mineralized fossil wood found in Bass's Straits, at 

 Reservation Island, which is composed of granite and of schist, tra- 

 versed by granite veins and trap dykes. He also refers to the ' Tasma- 

 nian Journal,' vol. i. p. 27, for an account, by the surgeon of H.M.S. 

 Erebus, Dr. M'Cormick, of silicified wood found in association with 

 trap rocks in Kerguelen's Land ; and to the same volume, p. 24, for 

 an account by Dr. T. D. Hooker, assistant-surgeon to H.M.S. 

 Erebus, of fossil wood found at Macquarrie plains, in Tasmania. 



The author infers, from the present position of the fossil trees at 

 Kurrur-kurran, that the land must have been alternately depressed 

 and elevated. He makes mention in the course of his paper of two 

 beds of lignite, one above the bed of fossil trees and one below it ; 

 but he does not describe the relative position and distance of these 

 two beds. 



March 22. — A paper was read " On some Pleistocene Deposits near 

 Copford, Essex," by John Brown, Esq. 



