22 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXVI. 



from the sandy tertiary deposits with which to wear down all 

 resistance. 



Along the present shore margin of the basaltic plain the 

 accumulation of the shelly deposits has taken place, and the 

 height above ordinary high water mark attained in the section 

 under inspection has been determined by Messrs. A. Brown and H. 

 Summers to be 7^ feet.* 



Such an accumulation would be commonly called a " raised 

 beach," and the reasoning usually associated with it would be — 

 A deposit of marine shells, therefore laid down beneath the sea ; 

 at present some 7 or 8 feet above sea level, therefore at least 10 

 feet of elevation ; marine shells all of living species, therefore 

 recent elevation to that extent. 



Thus it has become generally accepted that there is much 

 evidence around Port Phillip of a considerable elevation during 

 recent time. 



In 1854 t Mr. Selwyn remarks : — " Recently Upheaved Sea and 

 Estuary Beds, containing Shells of Existing Genera and Species. — 

 Wherever cliffs occur along the line of coast from Melbourne to 

 Point Nepean, these beds may be distinctly seen resting 

 indifferently on either the granite, basalt, palaeozoic, or tertiary 

 strata, also forming all the low shores where no other rocks are 

 seen in place. They consist chiefly of beds of loose sand and 

 clay, with layers of shells (oysters, mussels, periwinkles, cockles, 

 limpets, and other shells, perfectly identical with those now 

 found living on adjacent shores), but in several places from 

 100 to 300 feet above the level of the sea, and from 5 to 6 miles 

 inland." 



In a later report (1856)1 similar views are expressed, though 

 the raised beaches are spoken of as Pleistocene. 



If the geological literature of Port Phillip be followed up 

 through later dates the general acceptance of these views can be 

 readily noted, yet we are fully at liberty to pause and think, and 

 inquire into their validity. 



In the first place there seems to be little doubt that many of 

 the beds now accepted as aboriginal accumulations or old 

 kitchen-middens were included in most of the references to raised 

 beaches. Amongst these may be mentioned some well-known 

 spots along the eastern shores of Port Phillip, such as Point 

 Ormond, Hampton, Half-Moon Bay, and Frankston. These 

 deposits are notable for the number of large oysters, Oslrea 

 angasi, and mussels, Mytilus plamdatus, and other edible bivalves, 



* Proc. Roy. Soc.'Vic, 1902, vol. xv., N.S., part i, p. 37. 



+ "Geological Surveyor's Report on the Geology, Palaeontology, and 

 Mineralogy of the Country situated between Melbourne, Western Port Bay, 

 Cape Schanck, and Point Nepean," by A. R. C. Selwyn, p. 4. 



J " On the Geological Structure of the Colony of Victoria, &c.," by A. R. 

 C. Selwyn, pp. 6, 7. 



