fg^i'l Chapman, Geological History Australian Plants. 129 



Magnolia Brownii, Ett. 

 Cinnamomum, sp. 

 Apocynophylhim Mackinlayi, Ett. 

 Bombax Sttirtii, Ett. 

 Eucalyptus Diemcnii, Ett. . . 

 Mitchelli, Ett. .. 

 Banksia pragrandis, n. sp. . . 

 Quercus Greyi, Ett. . . 



Lake Frome. 

 William Creek. 

 Arcoona. 

 Elizabeth River. 

 Arcoona. 

 Elizal)eth River. 

 Bottle Hill. 



Elizabeth River, Ar- 

 coona, and Wyeculuna. 

 „ Wilkinsoni, Ett. . . . . Wyeculuna. 



Alnus Muelleri, Ett. . . . . Wyeculuna. 



Flora of the Deep Leads. —The old alluvial beds of the Vic- 

 torian, Tasmanian, and New South Wales river-systems 

 probably date from the Miocene ; they are notably those of 

 Vegetable Creek, New South Wales, and Hoddle's Creek and 

 Pitfield Plains, in Victoria From the latter locahty a fairly 

 old flora has been previously referred to (see antea, p. 48). The 

 alluvials of the Dargo High Plains may be regarded as part 

 of the Miocene Deep Lead system. The above deposits are 

 probably contemporaneous with the " Older Gold Drift " of 

 Victoria.* Others, however, as Haddon, Nintingbool, Tanjil 

 River, Smythe's Creek, Eldorado, Beaufort, and Creswick, are 

 of later age, probably Lower Pliocene. Many of these leads 

 lie at a depth of 100 to 150 feet below the present ground-level. 

 From the presence of gravels and great quantities of wash- 

 dirt, it is safe to conclude that the area was once elevated to 

 many hundreds of feet above sea-level, and also that the 

 climate was then much moister than at present. In all 

 probability the age of the generality of the Deep Leads was 

 Lower Phocene, although, as previously noticed, the river 

 systems commenced to grave their courses on the peneplain 

 much earher (Miocene), and continued to exist into early 

 Pleistocene times. The chief fossil remains in the Deep Leads 

 are fruits of shrubs and trees resembling those now living, as 

 Capparis and Pittosporum, with coniferous fruits as Callitris 

 and occasional wood-fragments or trunks of trees having 

 affinities to the latter genus. Leaves of Eucalyptus pluti, 

 M'Coy, also occurred at Daylesford in the Deep Leads, a species 

 allied to the living E. globulus (Blue Gum). The following 

 fruits were determined from the Deep Leads by Baron von 

 Mueller.f who considered the flora to indicate a more equable, 

 warmer, and moister chmate. They arc : — 



* For a discussion on the age of tliese " drifts " see the valuable paper 

 lately jjublished by R. H. Walcott — " Evidence of the Age of Some 

 Australian Gold Drifts," &c. — Rec. Geol. Survey N.S.W., vol. ix., pt. 2, 

 1920, pp. 66-97. 



t Geol. Surv. Vict., 'Observations on New Vegetable Fossils of the 

 Auriferous Drifts, 1874" ; also second decade, 1883. 



