204 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSETTM. 



Cupressiniform. I had hoped in connection therewith to have solved 

 a problem that has been before me for some time. It is this : — 

 In 1883, the late Baron F. v. Mueller" described wood from the 

 auriferous Pliocene drifts of Haddon, Victoria, and assumed it to 

 be that of his previously described fruits, Spondylostrohus smyihii, 

 simply because the latter were believed by him to be Cupressiniform, 

 and found in the same deep-lead drifts as the wood in question. 

 Subsequently Von Mueller seems to have forwarded to Leipzig, 

 Cupressiniform wood from the auriferous drifts of Ballaarat.^^ This 

 Schenk figured under the name of Phyllocladiis rniilleri. Now, are 

 these woods one and the same 1 Schenk says that in Phyllocladus 

 the large oval pores on the parenchyma cells of the medullary rays 

 are inclined to the left, but in Von Mueller's figure of the supposed 

 Spondylostrohus wood the same pores are represented as circular, 

 but no special reference is made to them in the text. Have we 

 one or two Cupressiniferous woods in our Pliocene or Miocene 

 Gold-drifts? Neither of these woods has ever been traced to its 

 original source in situ, with any degree of certainty. Still, there 

 is the bare possibility, now that we know definitely of the existence 

 of Coniferous wood in Lower Cretaceous times in Australia, that 

 the logs found in the gold drifts of Upper Tertiary age may be a 

 remnant of Cretaceous denudation. 



Finally, it may not be amiss to offer a few conclusions that 

 the discovery of these trunk blocks lead to: — (1) The existence of 

 a vigorous growth ef Coniferous trees in Eastern Australia during 

 Cretaceous times; (2) the existence of an arm of the sea with such 

 trees flourishing on its shores, or a river or water-way down which 

 they were floated ; (3) immersion for a lengthened period under 

 such conditions as would allow the necessary degree of salinity to 

 exist in the water concomitant with the life of Teredo; (4) existence 

 of a warm climate."' 



Scattered pieces of wood have been found at different times 

 throughout the Rolling Downs Formation, and recorded, whilst a 

 fairly vigorous growth of vegetation may also be inferred from 

 the occurrence at various localities of thin seams of coal — as for 

 instance on the Upper Flinders River, near Hughenden; on Ayr- 

 shire Downs; at Winton; Malta, near Tambo; head of Bunge- 

 worgorai Creek, near Mitcliell; and at Dulbydilla.'" These are 

 all localities in the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland. 



The blocks were collected by Mr. VV. H. Blomtield. 



H Von Mueller — Geol. Survey Vict., Obs. Veg. Foss. Aurif. Drifts, Dec. ii., 

 1883, p. 22, pi. XX. 



15 Schenk-Zittel's Handb. Pal., ii. Abth., Palteophytologie, pp. 872-874, 

 f . 424 - 42-5 The usual havoc is played with our geography, for Ballaarat is 

 said to be in New South Wales ! 



'*' Snow says that a large size in Teredo is due to a warm climate {loc. cit., 

 p. 188). 



17 R. L. Jack— Geol. Pal. Queensland, Ac, 1892, pp. 392 and 406. 



