BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, F.G.S., F.L.S. 41 



been found in quarries at the very top of the great sandstone, and 

 between it and the Wianamatta beds, which are in the Illawarra 

 escarpment, full 800 feet above the level. And these Wianamatta 

 beds, at Clarke's Hill and elsewhere in the Cowpasture country 

 abound with ferns. The author concludes by saying, " So long as 

 the fossil wood of the coal measures and leaves and stems of 

 Glossopteris occur in the same rock, specimens with the Spirifers, 

 Product®, Cornularia, &c, which I maintain they do. ... I 

 must take the liberty of expressing my belief from what I have 

 seen and know from actual and careful and repeated examination 

 of a very extensive region during several years, that there is no 

 break in our Australian series of deposits, and that if the paleo- 

 zoic fossils are of the lowest Carboniferous age, so the age of the 

 coal plants is nearly identical with it." 



In this summary three things will surprise geologists of the 

 present day, namely : — Mr. Clarke states that he has found rock 

 impressions of ferns [Glossopteris) and Spirifer, Productus and 

 Cornularia on the same rock specimens. 2. All the formations 

 from the coal to the Wianamatta are included as one. 3. The 

 age assigned is the lowest Carboniferous. 



The views of Mr. Jukes here referred to were published in the 

 3rd vol. of the " Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond. p. 224. * 



He described a series of deposits near Sydney about 2000 feet 

 thick which he termed paleozoic. The lowest of the series was 

 called Wollongong sandstone, thick bedded, fine grained often 

 calcareous, containing many concretionary nodules from one inch to 

 two feet in diameter. This was 300 to 400 feet thick with 

 Stenopora, Spirifer, Productus, &c. Above these are 200 feet of 

 strata with coal represented as not likely to be important. Then 

 shales and sandstone 400 feet. Then 700 to 800 feet of white or 

 light yellow sandstones, varying from fine grained to coarse, 

 containing quartz pebbles, resembling, as Mr. Jukes thought, the 

 millstone grit and lower coal measures of England. On the whole 



* Notes on the Paleozoic formations of New South Wales and Va n 

 Diemen's Land by Professor J. B. Jukes. 



