Art. XIV. — Note on a Basalt Tree Cast. 



By R. H. WALCOTT, F.G.S. 



(With Plate XIII), 



[Read 13th July, 1899]. 



In the Industrial and Technological Museum Collection there 

 is a specimen which perhaps stands unique as a remarkable 

 geological curiosity. It is what appears to be the cast of a tree 

 in basalt which was found in the quarry of Mr. John White, at 

 Footscray, by whom it was exhibited at the Melbourne Inter- 

 colonial Exhibition of 1866. Along with many other objects 

 from that Exhibition it was presented to the Trustees of the 

 Public Library and assisted in forming a nucleus for the present 

 Museum Collection. Unavoidably the specimen was broken into 

 many pieces in removing it from the hard enclosing basalt and 

 consequently it remained in an ob.scure corner of the old building 

 for many years, an unsightly object attracting but little attention. 

 On the removal of the collection to the New Museum, the late 

 Superintendent had each section properly secured in its original 

 position by stout iron pins and cement, so that the true nature of 

 the specimen is now plainly revealed. The restoration has been 

 the means of considerably increasing the amount of interest 

 previously taken in the exhibit but without evolving any more 

 feasible theory for its origin than that already advanced. 



The tree consists of a slightly curved stem with an average 

 circumference of 31 inches, the top or point of branching being 

 only 1^ inches less than that near the root junction at which 

 point the stem is abruptly constricted. 



It is supported on several short roots, or better perhaps, 

 portions of roots, and carries one branch 4i feet long. 



The branch, which is also slightly curved, has an average 

 circumference of about 19 inches with a small taper, the end 

 being rounded off. It diverges from the vertical at an angle of 

 about 30 degrees. At the branch junction the stem bears two 

 depressions, one being large and situated on the top of the stem. 



