16 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



laceous Sandstone below the Coal. The charactei.s ])r()per to eaca 

 are briefly summarised as follows : — 



Sydney Sandstone. — Thickness, 1,400ft.: the lithological 

 character, cross-beddinij, occasional concentric structure, hori- 

 zontal position or dip never exceeding- 12°, and the joints in 

 two directions at right angles are noted, as also the paucity of 

 organic remains, there being no animals, but few vegetable 

 impressions and thin seams of bituminous coal: imbedded minerals 

 almost absent. 



Coal Furmation. — (1) Of the Hunter Kiver Valley : the section 

 at Nobby Island and Telegraph Hill is described as containing 

 five distinct seams of bituminous coal, and stratigraphical and 

 lithological details are given ; faults and basaltic dykes inter- 

 secting the strata are recognised. (2) In the Illawarra district : 

 the section at Bulli Cliffs is described and the vegetable impres- 

 sions are observed to be less plentiful than in the Hunter Bashi, 

 the extension of the formation is also traced as far south as 

 Wollongong and Dapto. Except one species of fish, the fossils 

 of the coal formation consist of plants, the prevalent species being 

 small ferns and equisetaceous forms and the remains of conifers 

 allied to recent pines, but Glosxopieris Brozvntana constitutes 

 four-fifths of all plant remains. The absence of Calamnite^iy 

 Siffillartn, and Lepii,odendroH is noted. 



Sandstone Strata below the Coal. — It is noted that the gi'adual 

 transition seen between the Coal Formation and the Sydney Sand- 

 stone is traceable between it and the underlying sandstone, which 

 is called "sub-carboniferous." This formation occurs from Wol- 

 longong southward to Shoalhaven Kiver ; and in the Hunter 

 Valley at Harpur's Hill, Glendon, and Mount Wingen. He 

 describes its lithological characters (in general a greenish compact 

 sandstone), stratification, dip, joints, faults, &c. The fossils of 

 the " sub-carboniferous" are chiefly mollusca, corals being few and 

 plant remains scanty ; eighty-six species are described and figured. 



Dana agrees with Moi-ris as to the " Carboniferous character of 

 the animal remains in the Coal Formation and subjacent sand- 

 stone." and that the plant remains are of more uncertain 

 chronology, as they differ from those of the American and 

 European Carboniferous beds and present close relation to those 

 of the Oolite. 



Stukt, Captain Charles*, in 1844, under the authority of 

 the Imperial Government, pushed into the central parts of 



" Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia durinir 1844-46. 1849. 



