24 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



party afterwards. It is therefore proposed to call this tributary 

 Dolodrook River, as it flows through the parish of that name. 

 Along the Wellington River, below the Dolodrook junction, for a 

 distance of about two miles, it was noticed that the reddish and 

 purplish strata gave place to highly inclined crumpled and faulted 

 slates and sandstones, suggesting at once an older formation. 



Soon after camping Graptolite impressions were found in some 

 black slate fragments in the bed of the river. These interesting 

 fossils were soon traced to their position in situ in the highly 

 inclined black slates along the right bank of the river close to the 

 camp. 



Specimens were very abundant and in good state of preserva- 

 tion. This interesting occurrence at once fixed the age of the 

 strata, and subsequent observations in the neighbourhood 

 showed that a great inlier of Upper Ordovician rocks of many 

 square miles in extent occurred along the valley of the Welling- 

 ton River, right in the heart of a large Upper Palaeozoic area. 



It is intended at a later date to give further particulars regard- 

 ing this occurrence. In the meantime the specimens have been 

 handed over to Mr. T. S. Hall, M.A., for working out. 



A survey party was camped at the junction of Dolodrook River 

 with the Wellington ; they were engaged in surveying the land 

 along the river, and at an early date 1,280-acre blocks will be 

 available for grazing. We profited by the bush hospitality of the 

 surveyors, for they offered us the use of many camp conveniences 

 which did not enter into our list. The camp oven, extra billies, 

 and bark table were specially acceptable. The evening's fishing 

 did not provide very exciting sport, but several of the men at the 

 camp were more successful, and generously handed over their 

 haul to us. 



Friday, 6th January. — This day was spent making a trip on 

 foot across the ranges to the south-east to an exceptionally 

 interesting belt of serpentine rocks which crosses a part of Dolo- 

 drook River in a south-easterly direction. The area on the left 

 bank of the river at this position is locally known as " Little 

 Plain," and is at present being prospected by Mr. J. Macfarlane 

 for a Chromite deposit. Several shallow holes have been opened 

 up and irregular blocks of Chromite up to several hundredweight 

 in size have been obtained in the decomposed Serpentine matrix. 

 A sample of Chromite from Mount Wellington district which was 

 analyzed by the late Mr. J. Cosmo Newbery many years ago 

 probably came from this spot. Mr. R. A. F. Murray, in his 

 reports, stated that Serpentine was said to exist in the neighbour- 

 hood of Mount Wellington, but he had not seen any occurrence 

 in situ. 



This formation is one of great geological interest, and is of 

 Palaeozoic age — perhaps Ordovician, or older. The rocks are 

 highly foliated in places, and show signs of great pressure, 



