Tl6 CH.\Tyi.\'S. Geolo(;ical Hislory Austniltdv Plants. [voi'*xxxvii 



of i8() feet, overlaid Uic \arious seams of brown coal and sand, 

 and therefore the Hgnite is either Balcombian or older — at 

 least OUgoeene or Eocene. From one of these bores at about 

 345 feet a specimen of fossil (lignified) wood was obtained by 

 Mr. W. J. Parr. Upon an examination of thin sHces of this 

 and other woods from the Altona Bay coal-shaft, I found them 

 to belong to the same type as Sewarcl's genus \lcscmbrioxylo}i.* 

 They are also almost identical with Schenk's " Phyllocladiis " 

 Mueller i from the Deep Leads of \'ictoria.t the wood structure 

 of which recalls that of Callitris. This affinity of the early 

 Tcrtiarv woods to the timber still forming part of the forest 

 land of Victoria and Australia generally, is of very great interest 

 from the point of view of the persistence of a coniferous tj'pc 

 over a vast period. 



Queensland Fossil Wood. — Other fossil woods of the genus 

 Mesembrioxylon (.1/. fluviale and M . fnsiformc) have lately been 

 described from Tertiary deposits containing bones of Diprotodon. 

 close to the Condamine River, and west of Chinchilla station, 

 on the Western Railway line, beyond Toowcx^mba. It is, of 

 course, extremely probable that the fossil wood may have 

 belonged to an older Tertiary bed than that in which it is now 

 found. The author of the two species mentioned, Prof. Birbal 

 Sahni.J also describes two species of angiospermous woods 

 from the Tertiary of Queensland under the new genus name 

 of Pataloxylon ; these are of a specialized type resembling 

 modern genera, of which eight living families are specified. 



\'ictori(in Miocene LtJa/'-Bt'c/.s.- Underlying the Older Basalt 

 in Victoria are certain leaf-bearing beds consisting of ferru- 

 ginous consolidated silt occurring in the highlands of the 

 Bogong and Dargo districts ; and also beds of pipeclay in the 

 Berwick and Flemington areas having the same; relation to the 

 Older Basalt. The age of the Older Basalt of Victoria is 

 practically fixed for tin- generality of (occurrences by its inter- 

 calation between Miocene (Janjukian) limestone in the 

 Moorabool Vallex', whilst at I'leniington and ITinders the 

 Miocene marine Ix'ds rest on its eroded surface. Those leaf- 

 bearing beds, therefore, which are found under the basalt are 

 Miocene or earlier. That they can hardly be of Eocene age is 

 seen from the fairly modern type of Eucalyptus leaves mingled 

 with the more archaic forms. Tlie inference may therefore be 

 drawn that they are of Miocene age possibly Lower — and 

 therefore not far removed from the lignite beds of the Altona 

 Bay boring. 



The licnvick Flora. \)nv of the most inii)ortant assemblages 



• " Tossil Plant.s." vol. iv., 1919, pp. 173 and 203. 



t See Schimper and Sclienk. " Trait*- dc PaleophytoloRie," 1891, j;. 8^4. 



X Queensland Gcol. Surv. I'uM. Xo. 267. 1020. 



