342 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 



"Older Basalt" of the localities mentioned is considerably older 

 than it has hitherto been regarded, and, as there is a decided un- 

 conformit)' between it and the marine Eocene beds, which are now 

 looked upon by some authorities as Lower Eocene, it is even 

 probable that it may ultimately be found convenient to remove the 

 basalt from the Tertiary Period. 



Professor Tate and Mr. Dennant, in their paper on the Corre- 

 lation of the Marine Tertiaries of Australia,* make the following 

 remarks, which have an important bearing on this part of our 

 paper : — " This basalt rests directly upon Mesozoic strata at San 

 Remo, on the eastern shore of Western Port, while at Flinders, 

 on the west, it is overlain by the Eocene Tertiary. The " Older 

 Basalt" is commonly called Miocene, because the strata overlying 

 it were assumed to belong to that period. Instead of such being 

 the case they are, as we have endeavored to prove, of Eocene age, 

 and the epoch of the basalt must be correspondingly altered. It 

 cannot be younger than Eocene, and maj' ultimately prove to be 

 Cretaceous " 



Previous to the publication of the above paper we had come 

 to similar conclusions from independent observations in the Bella- 

 rine Peninsula and elsewhere, and had communicated our results 

 to the Royal Society of Victoria at their first meeting for this 

 year. 



Now let us look at the evidence w-e can obtain from a brief 

 examination of the plant remains themselves. Taking the j^enera 

 above mentioned, which are based on the leaf remains, we find that 

 their distribution confines our attention between the limits of 

 Cretaceous, as represented in the Laramie Group of America and 

 Miocene as represented in Europe. Mr. Lester l'\ Ward, in his 

 " Synopsis of the Flora of the Laramie Group," gives a table of 

 the distribution of Cretaceous and Eocene plants.f uhich bears out 

 the above statement. 



From our remarks on the "Older Basalt," and its unconformable 

 marine Lower Eocene cover, it can be readily seen that the limits 

 are narrowed down to the consideration of Cretaceous on the one 

 hand and very early Eocene on the other. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



There are a few points with regard to certain deposits in some 

 of the other colonies which tend to a great extent as confirmation 

 of the above. 



Professor Tate has already indicated his discovery of a Cretaceous 

 fauna mixed with a Tertiary flora, which was at one time regarded 

 as Miocene,;]: from a locality near Lake P'rome, in South Australia. 



• Trans. Hoy. Soc. S.A., vol. xvii., pt. i., p. 212. 



+ U.S. Geol. Surv., Gtli Report, 1885. 



t Adelaide Philosophical Society, President's Address, 18"9. 



