126 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Selwyn in his Exhibition essay of 1861, and in this he uses the 

 same words that he uses five years later in his better-known sketch 

 of the geology of Victoria, ascribing the origin of the beds to 

 " marine glacial transport." In 1863 Diantree's report, dealing 

 with the district between Bacchus Marsh and Bass Straits 

 appeared, and though in it he deals with the conglomerates at 

 some length, he makes no mention of the peculiar arrangement of 

 the beds, and does not deal with their probable origin. Three 

 years later, in 1866, his report on the district of Ballan appeared, 

 and was only handed in nearly two years after he had resigned 

 his connection with the survey. In this, as is well known, he ad- 

 vocated the probable glacial origin of the deposit ; so that the 

 credit of the correct interpretation of the beds appears to be due 

 to Selwyn. That the latter had long been considering the possi- 

 bility of the occurrence of glacial deposits in Victoria, comparable 

 to those which his previous experience on the English survey had 

 made him familiar with, we learn from a report which he pub- 

 lished in 1856, although up to that time he had not met with any 

 evidences of such beds. In his 1861 essay Selwyn also states 

 that the conglomerates are associated with the sandstones, gen- 

 erally towards the base of the series. It is evident, then, that 

 Selwyn regarded the conglomerates and the sandstones as intim- 

 ately related parts of the same formation, otherwise he would not 

 have used the term "generally." At the Exhibition of 1861 we 

 find that Selwyn showed photographs (taken probably by Daintree) 

 of the junction of the deposit with the underlying Silurian rocks. 

 Selwyn's route map shows that he followed the Werribee River 

 from its mouth to its source, and it is not a little remarkable that 

 he did not recognize any glaciated stones or rock surfaces. 



With regard to the earliest find of striated pebbles, Selwyn in 

 1866 says that none had been found, and all subsequent writers 

 have accepted his statement. In the same year, however, 

 Daintree's oft-quoted "Report on the District of Ballan" was 

 published, and its concluding words are : — " .... on the 

 Lerderderg River, immediately below where that river leaves 

 the ranges. Here I have found a few pebbles grooved in the 

 manner I have read of as caused by glacial action, and here I 

 believe fossil organisms will reward the explorer." So Daintree 

 did find striated stones during his survey, and the only strange 

 thing is that Selwyn and he did not recognize the character of the 

 glaciated surfaces which occur. 



With regard to the age of the beds, they were originally 

 referred to Palaeozoic age, and are so spoken of by Selwyn in 

 his two Exhibition essays. Daintree, in his " Report on the 

 District from Bacchus Marsh to Bass Straits," in 1863, speaks of 

 them as of the same age, and refers the Grampian, Avon, 

 Mount Tambo, and Macedon beds to the same horizon. In the 



