164 Proceedings of tlie Royal Society of Victoria. 



Mr. R. Etheridge^ gives "the general geological subdivisons of 

 the Carboniferous and Permo-Carboniferous rocks of New South 

 Wales as at present understood by the Geological Survey :" 



Upper Coal Measures. 



Middle Coal Measures. 

 Permo-Carboniferous. \ Upper Marine Series. 



Lower Coal Measures. 



Lower Marine Series. 

 Carboniferous. 



Further he states,- "The classification formerly adopted by 

 various authors was the subdivision of our New South Wales 

 rocks immediately above the Devonian into Lower Carboniferous, 

 Carboniferous, and Permian. Recent palaeontological investiga- 

 tions will probably lead to a modification of this classification, in 

 so far that the whole of the beds below the Lower Marine Series 

 may be regarded as more truly allied to the Carboniferous simply. 

 On the other hand, that series and the beds above, viz., the 

 Upper Marine and the whole of tlie Coal Measures, having an 

 affinity with both Permian and Carboniferous might be termed 

 Permo-Carboniferous, " At the same time great caution must be 

 exercised in assimilating our geological subdivisions strictly with 

 those of the old world." 



Mr. J. E. Marr may next be profitably quoted from a recent 

 work^ as follows : — " As an illustration of the local character of a 

 palaeontological break we may cite the case of the Carboniferous 

 and Permian systems of Britain. The rocks are separated from 

 one another in our area by a physical and palaeontological break, 

 but in parts of India, and other places, we find a group of rocks 

 now known as the Permo-Carboniferous rocks which contain a 

 fauna intermediate in character between those of the Permian 

 and Carboniferous systems, and a study of this fauna shows that 

 the hiatus which exists locally is filled by the species contained 

 in the Permo-Carboniferous rocks." 



As another recent expression of opinion by eminent English 

 geologists, Professor C. Lapworth^ states, " In the Permian strata 



1 Monograph of the Carboniferous and Penuo-Carboniferous Invertebrata of New South 

 Wales, Part i., Coelenterata, 1891, p. 3. 



2 Op. cit., p. 4. 



3 Principles of Stratigraphical Geologj', 1898, p. 64. 



4 Intermediate Text-Book of Geology, 1899, p. 282. 



