59 



This, together with the overlying shale bed cZ, may be 

 set down as a lacustrine or, at all events, a still-water 

 deposit, and is, no doubt, due to interception of the river 

 current by the lava flow. 



d. Soft sandy shale full of myrtaceous leaf impressions. 

 These leaves have not yet been described. 



The beds h, c, and d I have classed as middle pliocene. 



e. Clay drift with angular and sub-angular quartz pebbles; 

 contains the lower jawbones and loose teeth of 'perameles 

 nasuta, identical, I believe, with that of the New South 

 Wales cave breccia, and closely allied to the living "long-nosed 

 bandicoot." This deposit is contemporaneous with the lava 

 flow, as it is found now overlying the basaltic rock, then 

 underlying it, and again abutting against it. I assign to 

 both the age of ii'pper pliocene. 



f. Dolerite lava, 60 to 80 feet in thickness ; the upper 

 crust is vesicular, the main mass a granular rock rich in 

 specular iron, and containing olivine, spherosiderite, and 

 aragonite, but, as far as I have observed, no zeolites. 



g. Soft, grey and yellow clay shales, slightly micaceous, 

 having joint and bedding planes coated with scaly chlorite. 



These shales, alternating with coarse-grained ferruginous 

 sandstones, are of Lovjer Silurian age. They are traversed 

 by numerous quartz veins and lenticular patches of quartz, 

 but these are generally so thin and irregular that no mining 

 operations have hitherto been carried on to test their 

 auriferous character. 



The removal of the gravel drift h has engaged the labour 

 of numerous large mining companies for years past. The 

 gravel drift, known by miners as " wash dirt," has yielded 

 as much as an ounce of gold to the ton of stuff*. 



