332 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 



4._0N THE OCCURRENCE OF LEPIDODENDRON 

 ' NEAR BATHURST, N.S.W. 



By W. J, CLUNIES ROSS, B.Sc, F.G.S., &c. 



During last year two fossils were brought to me in Bathurst 

 which, I think, are of sufficient interest to be worth bringing 

 under the 'notice of the members of this Section, Both 

 are fossil plants belonging to the genus Lepidodendron — of 

 the exact species I am not sure — probably Lepidodendron 

 nothum or Lepidodendron austraie ; but of this I shall have 

 more to say presently. The importance or otherwise of a 

 fossil of course largely depends on the conditions under 

 which it has been found, the rocks from which it has been 

 derived, whether it was previously unknown in those rocks, 

 and, if so, whether its occurrence in them tends to throw any 

 definite light on their age, if this was previously uncertain, 

 or to alter an opinion of their age previously entertained. 



I propose, in the first place, to speak of the way in which 

 the fossils came into my possession. The first of them was 

 picked up in the streets of Bathurst, having evidently been 

 carted from the bed of the present Macquarie River in a 

 load of gravel for mending the roads. It is only a rolled 

 stone and therefore might be thought to be of no value to a 

 geologist except as a mere specimen of an interesting fossil. 

 In some cases however a rolled stone may be valuable, and 

 in the present case it has clearly been brought down by the 

 river and has therefore been derived from the upper part of 

 the river course. The Macquarie is formed by the junction 

 of the Fish and Campbell rivers about six miles above 

 Bathurst. From which of these two rivers the specimen 

 came I am not certain, probably the Fish. Neither river 

 however has a very long course, and neither, so far as I am 

 aware, flows over any rocks newer than the Devonian, so that 

 the specimen is likely to be of the latter age. It is therefore 

 of some interest ; nevertheless, its origin is too uncertain to 

 be worth calhng special attention to except as having some 

 bearing on the other specimen. This was found in a locality 

 with which I am very well acquainted, about ten miles east 

 of Bathurst, by the son of a well-known Bathurst resident, 

 Mr. T. Atkins, who noticed it incidentally and brought it in 

 to me. I at once recognised it as a Lepidodendron, and 

 made up my mind to visit the locality on the earliest oppor- 

 tunity to endeavour to procure some other specimens, and 



