president's address. 601 



made up respectively by the abundant crinoids and starfish of the 

 Victorian rocks and the spine of a fish, probably Onchus, found 

 by Mr. W. Anderson in the limestone of the Wellington Caves in 

 New 8outh Wales. The well known Silui-ian Coral Haly sites 

 occurs in several localities in New South Wales. In Victoria these 

 Upper Silurian strata were strongly folded along N.W. and S.E. 

 axes principally, following the Tasmanian Axis, which perhaps had 

 altered in direction slightly, becoming more westerly in proportion 

 as the Kosciusko Axis became more pronounced. In New South 

 Wales folding took place along axes approximately meridional. 

 In Victoria the folding antedated the commencement of the next 

 geological period, the Devonian, and in New South Wales it partly, 

 at all events, preceded Upper Devonian time. This is now the 

 fourth folding of the Australian rocks, or as the folding was only 

 slight in the Lower Silurian rocks before the deposition of the 

 Upper Silurian rocks, it may be considered as the third important 

 folding. 



The earliest freshwater deposits known in Australasia are 

 recorded by Mr. R. M. Johnston as occurring in the Fingal 

 District of Tasmania, where an A7iodo7ita (?) has been discovered. 

 In Lower Devonian time in Victoria there were extensive 

 eruptions, as de^^cribed by Messrs. A. W. Howitt and R. A. F. 

 Murray, of lavas and tuffs of an acidic character, the products of a 

 chain of large volcanoes, of one of which the Cobboras, 6000 feet 

 high, form the denuded stump. This volcanic series is known as 

 the " Snowy River PorphyrieSj" and is, perhaps, about 4000 feet 

 thick. The volcanoes which produced them are considered by 

 Mr. Howitt to have established themselves upon a meridional 

 fissure parallel, therefore, to the Kosciusko Axis. 



Middle Devonian rocks are represented in Victoria by the 

 Buchan and Bindi limestones and some underlying tuffaceous 

 beds, the thickness of the whole series being about 1300 feet. 

 The Tabberabbera shales also belong to the same horizon. The 

 South Eastern portion of Victoria was submerged to the extent 

 of at least 3000 feet during this period. Remains of the bony- 

 plated Coccostean fish are plentiful in the Buchan limestone, and 



