64 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



feet six inches. Magnesite filling in tissures occui-ring in the 

 limestone is found in large quantities. 



The details of the section of Bennett's and Burnip's quarries 

 are omitted, as no bones have been obtained by us here. Their 

 general character is very similar to that of Alkemade's quarry ; 

 the ash-bed previously referred to is shown in each quarry. 



The only other fossil remains yet found in these quarries are 

 vegetable ; though abundant, they are extremely fragmentary. 

 They appear to be mostly fragments of grasses and perhaps 

 characeous plants. Some of the limestones are traversed by 

 innumerable minute branching perforations, often coated with 

 a thin pellicle of iron oxide, which may possibly be casts of 

 rootlets of plant life. Other branching forms are found, but 

 they are very indefinite in character. One fragment of a fern 

 has been obtained. A microscopic examination of thin sections 

 of the limestone reveals minute spherical bodies, which may 

 possibly represent the spore cases of characeous plants. 



Leaving the quarries, in which the main development of the 

 limestone occurs, we proceed to trace their stratigraphical relation 

 to the other formations of the district. Along the eastern side 

 of the Pyrete Valley and towards its head the limestone can be 

 seen outcropping in several places, the apparent dip in each case 

 being into the valley. At one place, a quarter of a mile froni 

 Bennett's quarry, where a small cut has exposed the limestone, 

 the ash band before referred to is to be again seen. 



A short distance above this latter point, as one ascends the hill 

 in a south-easterly direction, an extensive outcrop of an intensely 

 hard quartzite is met with, and towards its base this formation 

 appears to gradually pass into a softer rock which contains both 

 lime and magnesia. In this rock small segregated veins and 

 patches of a highly silicious nature are frequent. The quartzite 

 varies considerably in texture, being very fine grained and almost 

 cherty in places, while in others it is much coarser and merges 

 into a quartzitic grit and conglomerate. 



Passing on up the hill beds of more or less cemented sand, 

 gravel and ferruginous conglomerate are encountered, the upper- 

 most being chiefly of the latter material. A remarkable feature 

 is the great variability in texture of these beds, some being 

 intensely hard, while others are soft and incoherent. The 



