OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 223 



great necessity of doing something where so much has to be 

 done, and where there are so lew inquirers. 



The fossils now described are all new and peculiarly interesting. 

 They are not generally like the present Australian fauna, and 

 they are not identical with any fossils of other countries. The 

 resemblance of some of them to the common forms of the 

 Italian and Vienna miocene is very striking. This resemblance 

 has already been referred to by Prof. M'Coy, and he has per- 

 petuated it by giving specific names which will serve to recall 

 the European types. So far as I have examined, the fossils 

 would incline one to imagine the sea to have been a warmer one 

 than at present ; but it would not be, as yet, a very certain in- 

 ference to draw from the evidence, which is so incomplete. For 

 the rest, I have noted in the diagnosis of each species such re- 

 semblances or peculiarities as are the most apparent, and I will 

 only add that the structure, sculpture, and elegance of form of 

 the fossil fauna of the Australian miocene far exceed anything 

 on our coasts at the present day. I do not enter into the ques- 

 tion of the age of the beds. The evidence, so far, is entirely in 

 favour of a miocene horizon. But the miocene of Australia is 

 represented by wide deposits of such thickness that the per 

 centage of existing species in the uppermost and lowest beds 

 must be widely different. The true value of the term miocene, 

 as applied to South Australian formations, can only be appreci- 

 ated when the relative position of the beds in different localities 

 is established. Prof. Tate is of opinion that the Muddy Creek 

 beds are the equivalents of the uppermost of the River Murray 

 series. I regard them as below the Mount Gambier limestones, 

 which is the opinion of the geologists of the Victorian survey. 

 So far, however, no accurate survey has been made to determine 

 the question, which the following paleontological remarks may 

 help to solve. All dimensions in French millimetres. 



TlUTON PKATTII. PI. 21, fig. 15. 



T.t. parva, twrnide-fusiformi, turrita, solida, nitente : anfr. 7 

 {embryonal. 2, inclusis), rotundatis, liris spiralibus incequalibus 

 cinctiSf codis ohsoletis mgulosis, et undique crehre siriatis, striis 



