44 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



those to the south, occur, and, like the beds to the south, are 

 almost, if not entirely, without fossils. It is unfortunate that 

 just at this critical spot, whei'e so much that is of interest could 

 be settled, the whole cliif-face should be scarred with grass and 

 scrub-covered landslips. Possibly the clays were deposited in a 

 spot sheltered from the inroads of sand by a basaltic reef or 

 ridge. 



At Grice's Creek, again, there is some difficulty in determining 

 the succession. The blue or grey clays, rich in marine fauna, 

 here dip at a high angle towards the basalt, and then at a still 

 higher angle off it, and upstream the igneous rock rises some 

 distance above sea level, while the base of the clays is hidden 

 below sea level at the Creek mouth. It is evident that we 

 are dealing either with a fault or with a landslip. Close at 

 hand the fault which lets down the mesozoic rock to sea level 

 runs parallel with the coast-line, so that, at tirst sight, step- 

 faulting might be called to our aid in seeking an explanation. 

 But if the main fault were post-Eocene, we should expect to find 

 some traces of the Jurassics on the upthrow side. But the clear 

 gully section shows no trace of them, so that the presumption is 

 that they were denuded before the Eocenes were laid down, or, in 

 other words, that the faulting did not take place in post-Eocene 

 times. Besides this, the amount of disturbance in the marine 

 Eocene seems to suggest the absence of a great thickness of cover 

 when the movement took place, and to suggest a superficial 

 disturbance rather than a fault. The clifis in the neighbourhood 

 are much masked, and at present there are not the necessary 

 outcrops to test the question fully. According to our view, 

 then, the present relations of the basalt and the marine clays at 

 Grice's Creek are due merely to landslips, and here, as elsewhere, 

 the clays are younger than the basalt. 



Ferruginous Grits. 

 Ferruginous sands and clays mantle over a great part of the 

 area, and their age is shown to be Eocene by the fossils obtained 

 at Landslip Point. It is, of course, quite within the bounds of 

 possibility that future investigation may show that some of the 

 beds are younger than this ; but, in the meantime, we seem 

 justified in referring the ferruginous grits of this district all to 

 the one age. 



