Proceedliu/s of the Roi/(U Soclehj of Victoria. 221 



to at Wan-nambool were fedlian, and the particles of which they 

 were composed were never rounded, but always angular. Tli(>n 

 again, it had been said that these rocks were Tertiai-y or Pliocene. 

 He would like to know why they were called Pliocene or Tertiary. 

 In the absence of fossil evidence, he did not know how it was to 

 be decided whether the rocks belonged to one age or another, 

 unless there was an underlying or an overlying rock to be guided 

 by. In this case, there was neither. If they were a^olian rocks, 

 as represented by those at Warrnambool and further to the west, 

 lie would he inclined to catalogue thera amongst recent foi'ms. 



Mr. "WiLSOX asked whether it was probable that the How of 

 lava came from the neighbouring Mount Duneed. With 

 reference to the rock above the basalt, had Mr. Griffiths noticed 

 a capping of true limestone, or something approaching a true 

 limestone, on the top, above what he called the calcareous 

 sandstone. At Sorrento and QueensclifF thei'e was a capping a 

 good deal purer than what had been described. He could not 

 help thinking that the capping on Barwon Heads bore some 

 similarity to that which was found on the other side of the 

 Straits. Mr. Griffiths had said that the lava did not show itself 

 further west. By that it was to be presumed was meant that it 

 did not show itself very close, because at a little distance the 

 basalt came out again at a place commonly called the Black 

 Rocks, about half way between the Barwon Heads and Bream 

 Greek. As to its going across the Straits, he could not of course 

 say positively ; it did not go some distance across the Straits, but 

 in dredging off that place he had occasionally brought up boulders 

 of basalt rock ; but a little beyond that distance, sandstone was 

 met with, which he believed to be of the same character as the 

 sandstone at Bream Creek, and which was also found on the 

 opposite shore, in the immediate neighbourliood of Ocean Grove, 

 which he had heard called Eocene. 



The Rev. A. W. Cresswell asked Mr. Griffiths whether the 

 age of the underlying volcanic rock could not be estimated by 

 simply comparing it with the volcanic rock at Phillip Island. 

 He presumed if it were recent rock it would be harder, to begin 

 with, and would differ altogether in its mineral contents from the 

 older Miocene basalt. A Miocene basalt was easily distinguished 

 from a more recent one, partly because of its peculiar mode of 

 decomposition, and its texture, softness, and so forth ; and partly 

 by its mineral contents. He thought that under consideration 

 very much resembled what one saw all along the coast, and 

 especially at Phillip Island ; but he did not recollect the bands 

 of conglomerates spoken of. Dr. Wilson had observed that these 

 rocks had a capping of what appeai-ed to be true limestone. He 

 liimself had observed that capping, and had noticed that it was 



