Vol. XXVII. 

 iqio 



J Armitage, Country about West Essendon. 93 



face to the north of the Bend. It seems quite feasible to 

 associate the cementation of the quartzites with the saturation 

 of locahzed masses of the beds with thermal waters rising from 

 below bearing silica in solution, which would be deposited amongst 

 the grains of quartz. This cementation appears to have pro- 

 ceeded comparatively rapidly (see Petrographical Note No. 4). 

 Except occasionally as road metal, our quartzites are not utilized 

 in any way. Of the Egyptian quartzites, Lieut. Newbold (21) 

 states that the more compact varieties of the rock in the vicinity 

 of Cairo have been lately [1848J employed by the Pacha for 

 macadamizing the open squares of his palaces. Professor 

 J. W. Dawson (13) says of the same material : — " It may be 

 worthy of remark that while this hard sandstone is now used 

 only for millstones and for macadamizing the roads, it furnished 

 to the ancient Egyptians the material of some of their most 

 enduring sculptures." " The blocks of grey wether sandstones," 

 writes Mr. W. Whitaker (22), " form an admirable building 

 stone .... being almost indestructible by the weather. 

 . Examples may be seen at Windsor Castle, great part 

 of which is built of this stone. Small cuboidal dressed blocks 

 of grey wether sandstone are also used for paving." These 

 extracts may suggest possible uses for our local quartzites. 



The Age of the Beds. 



In a paper by Mr. G. B. Pritchard (23), the latest addition to 

 the localities where Tertiary fossils have been procured in the 

 neighbourhood of Melbourne was made. Since then Mr. 

 Pritchard has discovered Tertiary fossils in at least three new 

 localities in the Essendon district, and he has very kindly offered 

 to allow the records to be incorporated in this paper. One 

 locality is at the corner of Mount Alexander and Pascoe Vale 

 roads, from which the fossils procured were not well preserved, 

 but still were highly suggestive of the lower beds at Royal Park. 

 The next locality is where Ardmillan-road joins Taylor-street. 

 Amongst the identifiable fossils obtained here were Cerithium 

 /lemingtonensis, McCoy, and AcmcBa, sp. Mr. R. C. Wilson, of 

 the Geology School, has also obtained Haliotis ncBvosoides, 

 McCoy, from this locality. The third locality is at West Essen- 

 don, on the boundary of the city of Essendon, in Buckley-street 

 west. On the south side of the street, immediately opposite the 

 post marked " E. T. B.," Mr. Pritchard discovered ironstone of 

 a similar lithological character to the Barwonian beds at Royal 

 Park, and this contained Cerithium /lemingtonensis, McCoy. 

 Mr. C. Waters and the writer subsequently visited the locality, 

 and, about 30 yards to the east of the spot where Mr. Pritchard 

 made his discovery, succeeded in finding several specimens of 

 Cerithium /lemingtonensis, McCoy, as well as Conns ligatus. 



