224 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



which Selwyn refers were probably put down in connection with 

 the scheme for a canal from Melbourne to the bay and may be 

 the same as the series alluded to by Mr. Henry Ginn (20). 

 Another series, "through the foot of Emerald Hill" by Mr. 

 James Blackburn (20), seems to- have proved nothing but the 

 absence of " rock." The Coode Canal does not, as shown by 

 Mr. A. H. S. Lucas, cut through anything but the post-tertiary 

 series (21). There is no evidence to show whether these ferrugi- 

 nous beds under the area in question are Eocene or Miocene, 

 though from the depth at which they were struck, Eocene 

 seems more probable. The same uncertainty prevails about the 

 yellow sands and clays in the upper part of the Altona Bay and 

 Newport shafts. 



Taken as a whole, it seems that the Miocene sediments grow 

 finer as we approach the present coast-line. Conglomerates are 

 commoner inland where they cap many of the hills and extend 

 over wide areas. About Brunswick the sections exposed in the 

 brick pits show in places a fairly heavy conglomerate of quartz 

 pebbles. On the Brighton coast the beds are finer in texture 

 and no coarse conglomerates have come under our notice, while 

 the presence of fossil-wood still points to the proximity of land. 

 No marine fossils have been recorded at any great distance from 

 the present coast-line and it seems probable the marine series 

 does not extend far inland, but gives place to a series of terrestrial 

 and freshwater beds. 



The thickness of the Marine Miocene does not seem to have 

 been very great. The section exposed in the Beaumaris cliffs 

 does not exceed a hundred feet in thickness and may be taken 

 as indicating approximately the thickness of the series. 



The clip of the Miocene beds is very inconstant and is as a 

 rule slight, 5° - 10° being the usual amount, while in one 

 instance, at Beaumaris, the dip is over 20° though only persist- 

 ing for a short distance. The general strike is about north-west 

 but is somewhat variable. The deeper beds of the series being- 

 more ferruginous than the upper ones are more weather-resisting 

 and when brought to the surface on the shore-line form the 

 points which project into the bay. Every little point has either 

 a mass of the ferruginous beds in situ for its base or by its beds 

 of shingle shows their near proximity. 



