160 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



evidence^ that their so-called Oligocene actually overlies their 

 so-called Miocene. Further confirmatory evidence of this fact 

 has since been brought forward. 



The aspect taken by the present head, Mr. James Stirling, of 

 the Geological Department of Victoria, may be best shown by 

 quoting his remarks," " I cannot help concurring with my friend 

 Mr. R. M. Johnston, F.G.S., that it is, in the present state of our 

 knowledge, somewhat premature to endeavour to establish a 

 co-relation with the great systematic divisions of the European 

 Tertiary rock system. It is quite probable that when the true 

 relation of the marine and terrestrial deposits of the older 

 Tertiary division is better known, that it may be found necessary 

 to adopt a compound term to define the age of the deposits, such 

 as Oligo-eocene, in a similar manner to that which has been 

 elsewhere adopted for passage beds, as the Jura-Trias in 

 the Mesozoic and Permo-carboniferous in the Palaeozoic life 

 system." 



Mr. Stirling however omits to state that in concurring with 

 Mr. Johnston he is going back to that gentleman's opinion first 

 expressed in 1876, and that he is practically ignoring all the 

 subsequent work done on our tertiaries up to 1898, as insufficient 

 for even a relative classification. 



Then we have the term Cretaceo-tertiary of Sir James Hector. 

 In introducing this he remarks that " As far as possible the 

 names usually applied to the equivalents of these formations in 

 other countries have been employed, for the convenience of those 

 to whom local names are unfamiliar ; but in several instances 

 the natural subdivisions of the strata which admit of being 

 mapped overlap the conventional subdivisions. In such cases 

 local or composite-terms have been used, as, for instance, 

 ' Waipara ' or ' Cretaceo-tertiary formation,' which includes the 

 Lower Eocene and Upper Cretaceous of ordinary classifications, 

 for the reason that no division-line that can be used for the 

 purpose of practical geology can be interposed." 



Professor Tate refers^ to the New Zealand term as Cretaceo- 

 Eocene. The wandering and modifying tendency is here distinct 



1 Proc. Roj-. Soc. Victoria, vol. iv., N.S., part 1, 1892, pp. 9-26. 



2 Geol. Sun-. Vic, Progress Report, No. ix., 1898, p. 123. 

 8 A.A.A.S., Adelaide, vol. v., 1893, p. S."). 



