president's address. 651 



.in wliich the carbonate of lime exists in the form of arragonite 

 or the unstable compound, while the permanent shells and coralg 

 such as Pecfens, Bnjozoa, Oculinacem, &c., are the forms in which 

 the carbonate of lime originally exists in the form of calcite. 

 Thf reason for this distinction is still veiled to us, and I suppose 

 will be found to depend on the explanation, which we have still 

 to discover, of the allotropism of the carbonate of lime. I may 

 mention that the metamorphism to which I refer seems to depend 

 on the extent to which the beds are calcareous. In the Murrayian 

 deposits (to use the appropriate distinctive term of Professor 

 Tate) or Middle Micc3ne, as they are represented at Muddy Creek, 

 AVestern Victoria, there is no metamorphism, but the beds, 

 though very calcareous, are largely mixed with the siliceous and 

 ferruginous remains of submarine volcanic rocks. 



In conclusion, I may congratulate the members on the extensive 

 and untouched fields of investigation which are open to us in this 

 country. It is hard to turn into any path of Science without 

 being met half-way, as it were, with new and important 

 discoveries. A few days ago at Cleveland, in Moreton Bay, I 

 came across a basaltic bed, which had been partly cut away for 

 road purposes. Underneath I found a bed of shells, all of 

 existing sj^ecies, and such as inhabit Moreton Bay at present. 

 Here was direct evidence of the age of our modern dolerites of 

 the East Coast. They are Post-Pliocene, and this was the first 

 clue to their age from marine fossils which have been found on 

 the seaboard on this side of the Continent. I think it will show 

 hereafter that our so-called Pliocene fossil fruits are of an earlier 

 date, since we cannot suppose the change to have been so com- 

 plete in the vegetable kingdom, and none to have taken place in 

 the marine fauna, and that probably our dolerites of the interior 

 are of Miocene age. I intend to treat the subject more at length. 

 I merely indicate it now to show how easily we may add in an 

 important manner to the facts of Science in Australia. I must 

 again congratulate my fellow workers in this Society on their 

 4 E 



