VOLCANIC ACTION IN EASTERN AUSTRALIA. 397 



hills form an integral part of a low range which extends almost to 

 Casterton on the south, and joins schistose masses on the tableland 

 to the north. At Wayne's Hill, the southern termination of the 

 range, there are two quarries, in one of which the rocks are light 

 colored and much decomposed, but the other contains a coarse 

 iron- stained rock, greenish-colored in fresh fracture, with roughly 

 prismatic cleavage. A thin section of it viewed under the micro- 

 scope recalls "Hummocks" examples, but in addition to the 

 magnetite there are numerous patches of a green-colored mineral 

 and a few small crystals of partially altered olivine. I may add 

 that among the quartzites and micaceous schists of the tableland 

 just north of " The Hummocks " I have seen isolated outcrops of 

 basic lava, and it is therefore quite possible that not only the 

 northern and western, but all three of the volcanic areas described, 

 may be really continuous. If so the line is a tortuous one and 

 must be followed on foot, and not in a vehicle, which was my 

 usual mode of travelling over the district. 



In the foregoing imperfect sketch of the igneous rock masses of 

 south-western Victoria the subject has been treated in a general 

 manner only. Some of the problems presented in this interesting 

 and almost untrodden field will require for their solution patient 

 research both in the field and at home with the microscope. 



• o->J(-o ■ 



9.— COXTRIBUTIOX TO THE STUDY OF VOLCANIC 

 ACTION IN EASTERN AUSTRALIA. 



By T. W. E. I) AVID, B.A., F.G.S., Professor of Geology, University of 

 Sydney. 



Plate XV. 



This short paj^er is intended to supplement the remarks con- 

 tained in my Presidential Address to Section C at Hobart last 

 year. The oldest volcanic rocks will be referred to first, and the 

 paper Avill be confined chiefly to researches made since the Hobart 

 meeting. 



In New South Wales eruptive rocks, of an age probably earlier 

 than that of Upper Devonian, have recently been discovered in 

 the Braidwood district by ^Ir. William Anderson, late Geological 

 Surveyor to the Department of Mines, New South Wales, and Mr. 

 P. T. Hammond, his field assistant. These rocks are described in 

 Mr. Anderson's preliminary report on the Major's Creek and 

 Braichvood districts. "^^ The type locality near Major's Creek, 

 where these rocks are developed, is a hill near Back Creek, about 

 three miles distant from the township of Major's Creek. The 



* Annual Report Department of Mines, 1S92, p. 121-125. 



