94 Sjyencer and Walcott : 



bete, situated some two and a-half miles to the west, and which 

 belongs to the marine tertiary series underlying the greater 

 part of the volcanic areas of the Western District of Victoria. 

 The black clay occurring under the tuff is highly carbonaceous, 

 and this character, together with the frequent occurrence of 

 what seem to be root cavities lined with a thin and hard fer- 

 ruginous casing, and the constant presence of impressions 

 of coarse grass-like leaves in the lowest layers of the tuff bed, 

 denote the existence at a former period, as in historical times, 

 of a swamp supporting a heavy growth of vegetation. In the 

 upper part of the yellow clay are also seen fine black fibrous 

 impressions left by the rootlets sent down by plants growing 

 in the old swamp soil. The only foreign bodies found in the 

 black clay besides the bone fragments were a few scattered 

 quartz pebbles and a pebble of decomposed dolerite. 



The tuff, or " sandstone," as it is invariably called locally, 

 where measured, has a thickness varying from fifteen inches to 

 two feet, and, as nearly as could be ascertained, occurs under 

 a depth of from two to three feet of soil. It is calcareous, fine- 

 grained, tough, and fairly even in its texture, but distinctly 

 bedded. Its mineralogical character seems to be similar to the 

 tuffs found elsewhere in the neighbourhood. In it were identi- 

 fied by Mr. F. Chapman, Palaeontologist to the National 

 Museum, fresh-water diatoms, o:ivino- additional evidence that 

 the tuff was laid down in an old swamp or lagoon ; and still 

 further palaeontological evidence was afforded of this fact by 

 the discovery of the cast of a '' yabbie '" {Engaeus sj').) seemingly 

 similar to those existing in the Pejark Marsh at the present 

 day. Something may also be said about the yellow clay, as 

 there are some points of interest in connection with it which 

 may aid in determining its origin, and which, later, may be of 

 use in correlating this bone bed with others in the district. 



The first thing noticed was that the physical condition of this 

 clay was quite different from that of the black clay above it. 

 Instead of being tenacious and coming up in solid lumps, it 

 broke into small pieces when dug into by the shovel. Again, it 

 was not compact, Imt porous, and samples in drying showed a ten- 

 dency to crack along indistinct lines of bedding. In the dry 

 state it was very friable, and, on being placed in water, rapidly 

 disinteirrated. 



