Art. XI. — Some remains of an extinct Kangaroo in the 

 Dune-Rock of the Sorrento Peninsula, Victoria. 



By J. W. GREGORY, D.Sc. 



(Professor of Geology, Melbourne University). 

 [Eead 11th July, 1901.] 



Port Phillip Bay is nearly closed to the south by two lines of 

 sand dunes, of which the eastern is known, after the principal 

 settlement upon it, as the Sorrento Peninsula. 



The peninsula is formed entirely of sand dunes, which extend 

 for twenty miles, from Point Nepean on the west, to Cape 

 Schanck on the east. The dune belt is broadest at the east, 

 where, with its associated alluvial deposits, it is seven miles in 

 width. 



The only direct stratigraphical evidence as to the age of the 

 Sorrento dune series is that, near Cape Schanck, it abuts against 

 the " older volcanic " basalts, which are certainly the earlier in 

 age. 



The thickness of the dune series is considerable. A dune 

 known as St. Paul's rises 176 feet above the sea. West of 

 Sorrento is another to which the Admiralty Chart assigns the 

 height of 225 feet. At Fowler's Cove the highest dune is 

 130 feet.^ Wells have been sunk to the depth of three or four 

 feet below sea level, where a plentiful supply of water has 

 rendered further sinking unnecessary. There is, therefore, no 

 direct evidence as to the full thickness of the dune formation 

 in the Sorrento Peninsula. The minimum is 360 feet ; and the 

 fact that the beaches on the sea front are formed of pebbles of 

 the dune sandstones and limestones shows that no other rocks 

 are exposed for some depth below low tide line. 



Throughout the body of this thick mass of dune formation no 

 determinable fossils have yet been recorded. They may have 

 been abundant ; but all the calcareous material has been 



1 This is the hei^'ht as determined trigonometrically by Mr. Fowler ; the Admiralty 

 Chart gives it at 117 feet. 



