19 



the Primary series; but they cannot be separated from the more 

 recent formation without stronger evidence than can be ob- 

 tained by the passing traveller. 



Among the rolled pebbles which line portions of the beach 

 near Table Cape, and have been derived from the disintegra- 

 tion of the conglomerates now under consideration, there 

 have been found from time to time fragments of a hard com- 

 pact shale, varying in colour from dark brown to dull black, and 

 so closely resembling the so-called " kerosene shale" of Hartley 

 in New South Wales, both in appearance, and behaviour under 

 the simple tests to which I have subjected it, that they may be 

 considered identical. Two specimens exhibiting the chief 

 varieties, have been forwarded by Mr. Hainsworth, who 

 rightly estimates the important results that would follow from 

 the discovery of the original home of this shale, and has 

 already devoted much of his leisure time to the exploration 

 of the surrounding country in search of it, though hitherto 

 without success. The entire absence of all the members of 

 the Carboniferous series from which these waifs might have 

 been derived is an adverse circumstance, and the occurrence of 

 a single specimen would have attracted no attention. But 

 the great difference between this shale and all the varieties of 

 Tertiary lignite, which are common enough in Tasmania, and 

 the discovery at different points of several specimens all iden- 

 tical in character, force us to the conclusion that it is of pre- 

 Tertiary age, and that portions of the series from which it has 

 come, though removed by denudation near the coast line, will 

 one day be found at no great distance inland. The extraor- 

 dinary toughness of the shale is worth noting. It is easily 

 seen that it would long resist the destructive agencies which have 

 played so important a part in the geological history of this 

 and other countries, and might remain unaltered long after 

 the accompanying sandstones had been ground down and 

 borne away to fill the hollows of adjacent seas.* 



I come now to the formation from which the interesting 

 series of fossils now before us has been obtained. It varies 

 in character from a breccia of coarse sand and broken shells 

 to a fine-grained whitish sandstone, which has been used in 



* The subjoined report of an assay of this shale by ]VIr. Cosmo Newbery, of 

 Victoria, has since been furnished by Mr. Hainsworth : — 



KEROSENE MINERAL FROM NORTH COAST OF TASMANIA. 



Burns freely witli a yellow smoky flame, leaving a dark reddish brown ash. Contains 



iron pyrites. Wlien heated in a closed vessel it melts, forming a fragile coke. A 

 sample dried at 212' F. gives the following results :— 



Water driven off at 230° F 1..59 



Volatile matter 67.36 



Fixed Carbon 25.83 



Ash 5.22 



100.00 



