20 



Geology of apart of Western Australia," " Trigonice, Ammonites 

 a Pecte7i, and a Ventriculite, as found in tlie neiglibourhood of 

 the Moresby Eange. It was, however, only in 1862 that the 

 Rev. Mr. Clarke's great announcement of the discovery by 

 Mr. P. G-ordon of a large series of fossils of secondary age 

 on the Fitzroy Downs in Queensland was made,' and this was 

 followed up in 1865 by Prof. McCoy's additional announce- 

 ment of the discovery of certain Cretaceous forms at Walker's 

 Table Mountain in Northern Australia." It is unnecessary to 

 continue this subject further, as enough has been said to show 

 the general sequence in the progress of Secondary Palseonto- 

 logical Discoveries in Australia. 



Let us now return to the collection made by Sir T. L. 

 Mitchell during his second great journey. As before stated 

 it consists of silicified wood, shells in ironstone, and a frag- 

 ment of the "guard" of a Belemnite, besides rock and 

 mineral specimens. The aspect of the Belemnite is so dif- 

 ferent from any of the other organic remains, that it at 

 once arrested my attention when going over the series, and 

 its identity became a matter of interest and importance. The 

 specimen bears the ordinary label for the registration number 

 used in the Department of G-eology, British Museum, and 

 bears the number 21,573. Upon turning to the old register 

 of the department I found that the entry was made by Mr. 

 Gr. R. Waterhouse, the present keeper of the Geological 

 Department, and afforded the following information : — 



No. 21,573 



Belemnite, No. 27, of Presented by Sir T, 



Sir T. Mitchell's Col- 

 lection 



Mitchell, Jan., 1848. 



"From the Plains 



westward of Mount 



Abundance." 



The specimen is that of a portion of the " guard " of a 

 Belemnite after the type of Belemnites Oivenii (Pratt), or 

 Belemnites abhreviatus (Miller), and is, perhaps, indicative of 

 an horizon in the Upper Oolites, near the Coral Eag or Oxford 

 Clay of the English geological nomenclature. It is clearly 

 water- worn, with the fractured edges a little rounded. The 

 fragment measures 2in. in length ; at the broader anterior or 

 upper end, is lin. in diameter, and at the lower posterior or 

 smaller end is 9 lines. The specimen has been broken near the 

 posterior termination of the alveolar cavity, and the surface 

 is too much worn to preserve any traces of vascular or other 

 markings. 



6. Quart. Jour. GeoL Soc, 1861, xvii., pp. 475-483. 7. On the Occurrence 

 of Mesozoic and Permian Fauna) in Eastern Australia. Quart. Jour. Geol. 

 Soc, 1862, xviii., pp. 244-247. 8. Note on Cretaceous Deposits in 

 Australia, Annals Nat. Hist., 1865, xvi., pp. 333-34. 



