168 F. L. Stillwell: 



marine fossils, and assigns them to the kalimnan (miocene) 

 period. 



Even with the correlation, it is an undecided question whether 

 these beds are marine or fluviatile, i.e., whether the kalimnan 

 sea extended as far north as Broadmeadows, or whether these 

 deposits were laid down in a river flowing through Broad- 

 meadows into the kalimnan sea. Exposures of the iron-stained 

 material which is found to be fossiliferous at Royal Park and 

 Wes't Essendon are so poor in this area that any thorough search 

 for fossils is impossible. The negative evidence is therefore not 

 of much value. 



Xewer Basalt. 



The newer basalt is part of the eastern fringe of the extensive 

 sheets of South-Western Victoria. Here it is part of flows which 

 have come from the north, and possibly, according to T. S. 

 Hart (1), from the low volcanic hills four or five miles to the 

 north in the parish of Yuroke. 



The newer basalt extends only as a thin capping which, as 

 sections along the valley show, has flowed over almost level 

 tertiary deposits. The surface of the flows is very scoriaceous, and 

 the extent of this scoriaceous basalt indicates very little erosion 

 since its consolidation. Still places are occasionally found where 

 the basalt is in an advanced state of decomposition. This is 

 usually assigned to ordinary processes of weathering which may 

 have been localised in sundry ways. But it is more likely to 

 have resulted from the chemical action, subsequent to consoli- 

 dation, of enclosed magmatic waters and gases. That the magma 

 contained large quantities of these is evidenced in the abundant 

 material, chiefly arragonite, deposited on the walls of the 

 vesicles. 



Chemical Characters. 



The rock analysed was collected from a point marked B on 

 the map, and taken from the lower part of a small section along 

 the river valley. According to the American classification the 

 rock Avould be called: — Class I., Dosalene; Order 5, Ger- 

 manare ; Rang 3, Andaso ; Sub-Rang 4, Andose. The chief 

 feature is the rather higher alkali percentage than that of the 



