366 



PROCEKDINGS OF SECTION C. 



made by Mr. R. Etheridge, jvin., Government Palaeontologist 

 of New South Wales, from cliippings sent by Mr. Thos. Stephens, 

 F.G.S., of Hohart. Mr. Stephens obtamed the foraminiferal rock 

 from an outcrop of Permo-Carboniferous limestone, on the River 

 Piper, in the north-east of Tasmania. Nubecularia is the prevail- 

 ing form, and occurs in the rock in very great numbers. Ref. See 

 p. 344 ante. 



No. 2. — The foraminifera mentioned in the second column of the 

 table, together with some other indeterminate and doubtful forms, 

 v>-ere obtained by washing the clayey material out of a few small 

 shells of Productus and Spirifera, kindly sent me by Mr. H. P. 

 Woodward, Government Geologist of Western Australia. The 

 fossils had been collected by him from the Carboniferous beds on 

 the Irwin River, Western Australia. This bed would doubtless 

 yield a much greater number of species if a larger quantity of 

 material could be treated : — 



TABLE VI. 



This first list of the Palaeozoic foraminifera of Australia is of 

 special interest as the oldest fauna of this class of organisms 

 observed in the Southern Hemisphere. The facies of the Aus- 

 tralian species differs widely from the foraminifera of the Carboni- 

 ferous limestone of the opposite hemisphere, in which this group 

 is essentially an arenaceous or sub-arenaceous one, whilst those 

 observed in rocks of this age in Australia are characterised by 

 ])orcellaneous or hyaline tests. The Australian Palaeozoic forms 

 show a closer affinity with the Permian, and more particularly with 

 the Liassic faunae of the Northern Hemisphere, than they do with 

 the Pala'ozoic. The Irwin River material contains several new 

 species, which will be described in due course. 



