38 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



noted, but in this short distance they shew a surprising variation 

 in character. This is to some extent the result of alteration 

 since the deposition of the strata, but the chief cause is undoubt- 

 edly changes in the sediments. A few hundred yards west 

 of the last section, the calcareous strata disappear entirely at 

 the base and cemented ironstone or only sandy drift occurs for 

 several feet up, while overlying there are nodules and even bands 

 of hard unaltered limestone. A few yards farther west still, 

 i.e., near the gully mentioned, this in its turn disappears. The 

 lower silt is full of the ferruginous pipes and stems common at 

 Dooley's and other sections, and there appear to be also the 

 remains of bryozoa (though on this point we cannot be positive). 



We have only recently been able to observe these final 

 sections on Skinner's bank : at previous visits the steepness of 

 the bank and the thick scrub covering it, combined with the 

 approach of the wacer to the very edge, rendered the place 

 practically inaccessible, but on the last occasion we managed to 

 clamber all over the face. 



On the other side of the gully, the massive conglomerate 

 capping and a thickness of 15 to 20 feet of ironstone overlie the 

 sandy drift. This ironstone may be traced westward for about 

 a mile, and is no doubt the same as that which caps Saunders' 

 Blufi". The layers at the base of the latter correspond to those 

 at the west end of Skinner's, about a mile and a half away. 

 Since Saunders' Bluff is practically at the end of the eocene on 

 the north side of the river, the old coast line must have been 

 close to the sections noted, and it is thus fair to conclude that 

 the variation in the strata is mainly due to sedimentation. 



We observe that on this side of the river, the limestone at 

 Myrtle Point is of great thickness and constitutes the main 

 mass of the bank, yet at Skinner's section close at hand it is 

 reduced to a thin band. Again, on the south bank, the limestone 

 passes with surprising suddenness into the drift deposits. On 

 the western flank of the Mitchell tertiaries there is thus no 

 gradual thinning out of the limestone, and it cannot, as Mr. 

 Howitt's theory requires, be an eroded basal bed upon which 

 the sandy drifts, with their alternating fossiliferous ironstones, 

 have been subsequently deposited (1). On the contrary, we regard 

 the strata, including the limestone, gastropod beds, and other 



