Geology of the Lower Mitchell River. 27 



river channel, at least in this part of its course. In many places 

 they are left high up on the banks of the river, which has since 

 cut its channel deeper and deeper into the underlying limestone. 

 Frequently they have been redistributed, and, as at Lindenow, 

 now rest in the actual bed of the stream. 



Next in order to the ironstone conglomei'ate come the well 

 known Bairnsdale limestones. They are of unknown thickness 

 here, but terminate abruptly as the river is followed up. They 

 may be briefly described as hard compact rocks, rich in 

 fossils, which, however, with the exception of a few species of 

 pectens, a large oyster, several brachiopods, and occasional 

 examples of other forms occur as calciferous casts only. Lists of 

 the species recognised in various outcrops of the strata have been 

 previously given (4 and 6), and need not be now repeated. For 

 miles along the Mitchell as well as on the Nicholson and Tambo 

 Rivers, at Lake Tyers, and as far east as Snowy River, the same 

 eocene rocks are presented. At Bellevue the upper portion of 

 the limestone for several feet down shews numerous very small 

 siliceous pebbles, with here and there a larger one scattered irre- 

 gularly through it. All of them are ironstained, much rounded, 

 and worn. We have not observed similar pebbles in exposures of 

 the rock elsewhere. There is no question here of a remade bed, 

 the junction of the two strata, viz., eocene and miocene being 

 sharply defined. Both are apparently horizontal, and thus 

 comformable. Still the exposure in the upper deposit is too 

 small to allow of a positive statement under this head. 



V. — Knights. 



On the Wy Yung road, north of the Mitchell, and between 

 Bairnsdale and the section just described, a small road cutting 

 displays a similar ferruginous conglomerate, but the fo.ssil casts, 

 owing to the prolonged weathering of the material, are usually 

 indistinct, Trigonia howitti and Myadora corrugata being the 

 only ones we could definitely name. Under the ironstone a 

 moderately stiff clay, containing from 40 to 50 per cent, of coarse 

 waterworn sand, reaches down to the road level. The junction 

 line of the two strata is uneven, slight hollows in the sands and 

 clays being filled by the ironstone. As the latter continues on 

 the hilly ground beyond the top of the cutting, its thickness could 



