192 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



Mr. Smyth^ divided the stone implements used by the natives 

 into eleven groups, which were : — 

 a. Hatchets. 

 /;. Knives. 

 c. Adzes. 



d. Chips of basalt for jagged spears. 



e. Chips of basalt for cutting and scraping skins of 



animals, etc. 



f. Stones for pounding roots, seeds, etc. 



g. Stones for shai^pening spears and hatchets. 

 h. Stones for fishing. 



i. Stones used by women in making baskets. 

 j. Stones from which ruddle, etc., are obtained. 

 k. Sacred stones kept by priests and others. 



This arrangement does not include " throwing " or " game " 

 stones ; and includes, in groupsy and k, ruddle stones, and sacred 

 stones which are hardly properly classed under the term 

 implement. If, as it appears was the intention, the groups were 

 to show all the uses of stone by the aboriginals, building and 

 fire stones should also have been included. 



Mr. R. Etheridge, Junr.,'' commenced a tentative classification 

 of the ground cutting edged implements; but, unfortunately, 

 he has not carried out his expressed intention of completing this 

 work,'^ and it is understood that he has abandoned the project. 



The writers, in the course of their work in collecting stone 

 implements in Victoria, found it imperative to make a classifica- 

 tion of them, and, with a view to eliciting criticisms or suggestions 

 for improvement, now submit this classification to members inter- 

 ested. It is one which they believe will prove of use to the 

 collector, and serve as a guide to investigators. To some of the 

 groups are attributed uses cliffeiing from those given by other 

 writers, and some of them have been hitherto unrecognised and 

 undescribed. 



Unfortunately, the methods of employment of many of the 

 groups are not known with any degree of certainty ; particularly 

 so as regards the stone implements of the aboriginals formerly 



1 Aborigines of Victoria, vol. i., p. 35S. 



2 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. vi., pt. 3, 1S91, p. 357. 



3 Mem. Geol. Surv. N. S. Wales ; Pal. No. 8, pt. i., p. i., 1890. 



