BY R. 11. CAMBAGE. 381 



the headland quite a brown appearance. It may be mentioned 

 that this locality is the most northern coastal spot recorded for 

 C. distyla, though it extends north-westerly a considerable dis- 

 tance inland, following the Triassic formation. 



Although the occurrence of C. stricta at Newport and Otford 

 appears to indicate a preference for the particular local geological 

 formation, it still remains a somewhat difficult matter to account 

 for its being there at all. Its general habit as well as its wide 

 and curious distribution on the hill-tops of the western districts 

 appear to certainly point to the antiquity of the species; and if 

 it could be shown that the Narrabeen Shales in prehistoric times 

 had extended eastward from the present coast-line and were 

 olothed with vegetation, it would seem quite possible that this 

 Casuarina may have formed part of its flora; and these isolated 

 patches now on the present coast are the remnants of this par- 

 ticular species, the greater part of which has been destroyed in 

 the intermediate localities by the alteration of the shore-line. 

 That the coast-line of New South Wales was formerly some 15 

 or 20 miles further eastward is regarded by geologists as almost 

 beyond doubt (Plate xiii.). 



The Rev. W.B. Clarke"^ suggested that "the eastern extension 

 of Australia has been probably cut off by a general sinking," 



Mr. C. S. Wilkinson,! writing on the subject, and speaking of 

 the present sea-floor within some 20 miles of the coast, says : — 

 ^' Here the bed of the ocean probably consists of the old land 

 surface which once formed a continuation of that upon which the 

 City of Sydney now stands and which has been faulted to a depth 



of over 12,000 feet We have evidence that these 



faultings probably took place towards the close of the Tertiary 

 epoch, for no marine Tertiary deposits are known along this por- 

 tion of the coast of Australia, whereas in New Guinea and Vic- 

 toria the marine Miocene beds occur at elevations up to eight 



* Remarks on the Sedimentary Formations of New South Wales. Fourth 

 Edition, 1878, p. 7. 



t Mineral Products, etc., of New South Wales. 1882, p. 52. 



