AGE OF CERTAIX PLANT-BEARING BEDS. 343 



We have in this a somewhat parallel instance to the famous 

 Laramie beds of North America. In the latter case a comparison 

 with European floras was made, but was found very unreliable in 

 face of the evidence obtained from stratigraphical position and 

 palseontological evidence based on marine forms. 



A peculiarity of lithological resemblance between some of the 

 beds seems so marked a feature that it may be w^orthy of mention. 

 In certain of the Victorian beds, particularly in the Gippsland 

 district, a marked character is the presence of a siliceous cement, 

 which has been suggested as probably due to hydrothermal action.*' 

 Certain Upper Cretaceous rocks of Queensland and South Australia 

 are mentioned by some authors as being characterised by the 

 occurrence of a similar cementing material. 



The late Mr. C. S. Wilkinson has remarked on the apparent 

 identity of certain plant-bearing beds of New South Wales with 

 the Victorian beds in the following terms : — f " In many places on 

 the Great Dividing Range and at various elevations up to 5,000ft. 

 above the sea occur beds of conglomerate, siliceous sandstones, 

 clays, and ironstones, containing impressions of leaves. In litho- 

 logical character these beds have a perfect resemblance to the 

 Lower Miocene leaf-beds of Bacchus Marsh in Victoria : some of 

 the impressions of leaves in the former seem to be undistin- 

 guishable from the Victorian fossils." 



Baron von Ettingshausen, in dealing with similar material to 

 that which occurs in the Victorian beds from Dalton, near Gun- 

 ning, New South Wales, regards the fossil flora from that locality 

 as Eocene, the classification being ajiparently based upon the plants 

 themselves.;]: The same authority, in dealing with the fossils from 

 Vegetable Creek, comes to the conclusion upon the same some- 

 Avhat precarious method, that that fossil flora might be referred to 

 Lower Eocene, from the European point of view.§ At the same 

 time he draws attention to the close affinity of some of the forms 

 to those usually belonging to the Cretaceous Pei-iod, but does not 

 seem to lay very much stress upon them, as he says — 1| " Examples 

 indicating the attachment of our flora to that of the Cretaceous 

 Period appear, however, to be only isolated when we take into 

 consideration its numerous analogies to real Tertiary plants." 



We have shown that the age of the Victorian leaf-beds has 

 been brought within comparatively narrow limits, and if Mr. 

 Wilkinson's comparison holds good, and is still borne out when 

 more is known of the various species occurring in the Victorian 

 beds which have not yet received any attention, is it not possible 

 that the New South Wales beds also may require to be placed 

 further back in time? 



' Prog. Rep. Geol. Surv., Vic, No. iii., page US. t Notes on the Geology of New 



South Wales, 1882, p. 56. 



i Contributions to the Tertiary Flora of Australia, pp. 8, 9. 



? 1(1., p. 77 et seq. || Id., p. 80. 



