List of the Fossil ('/leilostornatous Polyzoa. 219 



of those containing any extinct forms is of but local distribution. 

 Older than this we have two series which are widely spread, and 

 of these the earlier is the richer in fossils. It is to this lowest 

 series that Mr. Maplestone's fossils, as recorded in this list, 

 belong. Whether or not this oldest set of beds belongs to one 

 geological age or two is still unsettled. Professor Tate, in his 

 later years, divided it into an upper and lower, which he called 

 oligocene and eocene. Most other workers are disinclined to 

 regard the differences as being so fundamental, and think that 

 both belong to the same series, whatever may be its age. 



As regards the equivalence of this series to European and 

 North American ones, considerable diversity of opinion exists. 

 The late Professor Tate held, as has just been stated, that the 

 great proportion of the beds was eocene ; McCoy, that they were 

 oligocene in the main, and in part miocene. Mr. Pritchard and 

 myself, to escape the confusion thus caused, have called them 

 Barwonian, from the River Barwon, in the basin of which types 

 of most of the deposits occur. Personally, I doubt if correlation 

 with European standards is possible. As regards the localities 

 given by Mr. Maplestone, all are agreed that the beds about 

 Cape Otway and the Aire coastal sections are the oldest. With 

 these some authorities group those at Darriman's Creek, VVaurn 

 Ponds and Spring Creek. The latter is, however, the type of 

 Tate's oligocene, and thus, according to his view, quite distinct 

 from the Otway beds. The remaining localities probably all 

 belong to one series as the community of their molluscan contents 

 is considerable. 



Mr. Maplestone's specimens came in the main from parcels of 

 earth supplied to him by various collectons, and I have every 

 confidence in the coirectness of their localisation. 



It may as well be stated that the beds at Darriman's Creek, 

 Waurn Ponds, the Filter Quarries and Flinders consist of lime- 

 stone, in which the fossils stand out clearly from one another as 

 a rule, though the rock is compact enough to be used extensively 

 in building. The other deposits are grey or blue marls, some- 

 times of very tough consistency, while at others containing a 

 varying proportion of sand. Differences in the fauna due to 

 these differences in sediment must, of course, exist. 



Mr. Maplestone's list will throw light on questions of correla- 

 tion between the beds themselves and those at a distance. 



