Geolofjy of flie Barivon about Inverleigh. 295 



I3alcombian beds occur close to water level. A couple of 

 hundred yards or so above the bridge there is a good exposure 

 along the river, which can only be worked when the water is 

 aliout summer level. There is another exposure at about the 

 same distance below the bridge. As in all the outcrops a])out 

 here the beds are practically horizontal, we have not kept the 

 fossils separate. The strata consist of light grey sandy clays, and 

 the fossils are in a good state of {^reservation. Among the more 

 interesting finds were several specimens of Poroleda lanceolata, 

 hitherto known only from the Gellibrand and Grice's Creek. 



From the bridge for about a mile to tlie soutli-east the Leigh 

 and the Barwon, which unites with it, meander through sandy 

 alluvial flats, and then plunge into a shallow gorge about forty 

 feet deep, cut into basalt, which occupies the river bed. A 

 succession of rapids follows for a mile and a quarter when 

 another alluvial flat is met, where the river receives the Native 

 Hut Creek coming down from the north. 



Native Hut Creek. 



There is a fair exposure at the junction of the two streams, 

 and a much better one about a mile and a half up the creek. 

 At this upper section the beds are again sandy, with sheets of 

 sandy limestone a few feet in thickness interstratitied, and becom- 

 ing ferruginous as we ascend. There is a considerable amount of 

 salt in the beds, and brackish springs or soakages occur at 

 various points, and tlie fossils are apt to become destroyed by 

 efflorescing salt, unless washed immediately after collection. 



A tine tooth of Carcharodon megalodon, five and a quarter 

 inches in height, was obtained hei'e, as well as a large nautilus, 

 eight inches in diameter, and Cypraea gigas. Fragments of large 

 shells are not uncommon, but fossils are only sparingly scattered 

 through the sandy matrix. Pinna cordata, Prit., came from the 

 junction of Native Hut Creek and the JBarwon. 



After the confluence of the two streams the Barwon turns 

 sharply to the south, and describes a U-shaped loop about three 

 miles in length. There are a few exposures apparently of 

 Balcombian beds beneath the basalt cover, but we saw no 

 fossils. At the road marked between Allotments 20A and 20B, 



