78 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



of them, Sun bury Hill, has had extensive excavations made in it 

 to level a site for the Lunatic Asylum. The excavations show a 

 peculiar scoriaceous rock, probably indurated ash, and at several 

 places portions of lava streams are exposed on the surface of the 

 hill. 



In the valleys of the Kororoit Creek and the Werribee, below 

 Melton, the volcanic rocks are almost the only ones that appear : 

 at one place, near Mount Mary, a creek shows over ioo feet in 

 a section. But near the mouth of the Werribee the basalt is over- 

 laid by a deposit marked as " Upper Brighton Beds." This, I 

 think, refers to the deposit which forms the surface at Brighton — 

 not the same " Upper Brighton Beds " as occur elsewhere between 

 the Newer and Older Volcanic. 



The Newer Volcanic rocks have been cut through by the rivers 

 till in places they run in gorges over ioo feet deep, so that a con- 

 siderable time must have elapsed since their outpouring. Though 

 they are usually considered as marking the close of the Pliocene 

 period, the referring of the underlying rocks to an older age 

 makes it possible that they too are older, and a comparison of the 

 surface of the Tertiary on which they rest with the hills and valleys 

 into which the same have been worn where not protected, seems 

 to indicate that the time between their formation and the lava 

 flows was short compared with the time that has elapsed since. 

 It would appear that the Tertiaries had suffered very little erosion 

 before the lava streams covered them, and the outpouring of lava 

 may have occurred simultaneously with the rising of the land. 



SOME REFERENCES TO LITERATURE DEALING 



WITH GRAPTOLITES. 

 Instead of forwarding for publication a few unsatisfactory notes 

 on the subject matter of my remarks on Graptolites before a 

 recent meeting of the Club, I have thought that some hints on the 

 literature of the group will be of use. As Graptolites occur in 

 many of the countries of Europe and America, and as so many 

 of the species have a world-wide range, the literature is much 

 scattered, and many of the important papers are inaccessible in 

 Melbourne. 



As regards the structure of the group, Nicholson and Lyd- 

 deker's " Palaeontology " and Zittell's " Handbuch der Palseon- 

 tologie " will be found useful. Both are in the Melbourne Public 

 Library. A paper by Dr. Otto Herrmann, in the Geological 

 Magazine for 1885, gives some information of great value. This 

 publication is in the Club's library, the first volume of the set 

 there being that for 1882. The earlier volumes of the Geological 

 Magazine contain many valuable papers on the subject, but, strange 

 to say, are not to be found in any of the Melbourne libraries. 

 As so many of Lapworth's papers dealing with classification and 



