60 



11. From Mr. Guesdon — A slab of mudstone from Bruni Island, with 

 numerous casts of fossils. 



The Secketary mentioned that, owing to the extreme inclemency of 

 the weather, the Rev. Julian Woods had kindly consented to postpone the 

 reading of his paper till the next meeting, in order to afford to a probably 

 much larger number of Fellows the opiJortunity of discussing it. 



Mr. M. Allpoet exhibited a plan, carefully prepared by Mr. T. Stephens, 

 for the purjjose of showing the general geological features of a portion 

 of the North Coast of Tasmania, and defined the position of the two dif- 

 ferent forms of trap rock occm'riag there ; and in the absence of any other 

 business, Mr. Allport said, " I desire to record the alteration in my views 

 as to the geological age of the more recent basalts on the south side of the 

 island. The Fellows of the Society will remember that some years ago a 

 large nmuber of fossU bones, in a comminuted condition, were dis- 

 covered in the Travertiu, worked for hme at Geilston Bay, on the other 

 side of the Derwent, below Risdon. Upon examination, these bones all 

 proved to belong to existing sj)ecies, viz.,P halanf/istafulv/inosa, Hypsiprimni, 

 etc., and the conclusion was then come to that the Travertin must be of 

 recent tertiary or post-tertiary age. For many years previous to the dis- 

 covery of the bones abundant vegetable remains had been observed in 

 this Travertin ; these consisted of leaf impressions and fossil wood. A 

 considerable number of land shells of at least four species, Helix (two 

 species), Vitrina, and Bulimus, were also frequently found. Many of the 

 leaf impressions bore a superficial resemblance to the leaves of plants 

 now existing ; but well knowdng the difiiculty of determining species by 

 the examination of such slight remains, I always preferred waiting the 

 discovery of a larger series of si^ectmens before coming to hasty, and 

 probably erroneous, conclusions. Upon the discovery of the bones, how- 

 ever, Mr. Gould and myself both assumed that the Travertin was very 

 recent ; and this was the more important, geologically, from the fact 

 recorded in our transactions that the bed of Travertin had been displaced 

 by a dyke of basalt, clearly proving that, however recent the Travertin, 

 the basalt was still more recent. Shortly after the discovery of the 

 bones, however, I came upon some fossils in soUd portions of the Travertin, 

 that went far to shake my preconceived notions of its recent age. These 

 fossils consisted of three seeds, all differing from any now existing, the most 

 remarkable beiag about the size of a walnut, but divided by fine Hues in 

 to five equal segments. These seeds I forwarded to Baron Von Miieller, 

 with many of the leaf impressions. As to the smaller seeds, he deshed 

 to have more specimens before coming to any conclusion ; but as to the 

 specimen above described, he at once founded a genus upon it, and pointed 

 out its affinities to extinct types in the Tertiaries of Victoria. I still felt 

 some hesitation in concluding from this one specimen that the age of the 

 Travertin must be put back to an earlier geological epoch, because some 

 of the excrescences caused by insects on our existing trees bear considerable 

 resemblance to the fossil referred to. Now, however, I am happy to say, 

 two other specimens, showing not only the external markings of the 

 first, but also the divisions of the septa in which the seeds had lain, 

 have been discovered, proving the learned Baron to have been quite correct 

 in his conclusion as to the nature of the fu-st fossil. At the same time 

 as the last mentioned specimens, two other well-marked seeds were also 

 found, one about the size of a hazel nut, but divided longitudinally into 

 equal valves ; and the other a very interesting form when taken in 

 connection with some of the impressions abounding in the vicinity. It 

 consists of a well-marked cast of a cone, from which the seeds have 

 dropped out, about an iach in diameter, of a somewhat circular form, and 

 quite dissimilar to any now existing in Tasmania. The discovery of 

 these fresh and unmistakable proofs of the earher age of the Travertin 

 caused me to inquire a little more fully into the history of the bones 



