79 



the creek, and on the hill behind the hotel, very massive surfaces 

 of the coralline marbles occur as bare patches, very rich in corals. 

 As in the outcrops on the Western side, the fossiliferous belt 

 follows the course of the foothills, the geological strike having 

 the same general trend as the Ranges. 



In the second valley, after leaving the Sellick's Hill Creek, a 

 very excellent section of the Cambrian beds is seen ; although 

 the coralline bed is locally denuded. The underlying grey and 

 purple shales are exposed in high cliffs with a dip of 65° to S.E. 

 These shales are overlain by a thick series of blue siliceous lime- 

 stones, corresponding to the lower fossiliferous horizon, and 

 include a wedge of impure limestone (f) and thin quartzite, 

 which seem to have thickened in their easterly extension from 

 Sellick's Hill. In the ascending order, where the Archceocyathince 

 beds should put on, there are alluvial banks 70 feet high. Higher 

 up the creek the flaggy limestones (d) form very high cliffs, which 

 are hard near the surface, but decomposed at depth into soft 

 ochreous beds. 



On the rising ground and summit of the next hill the 

 fossiliferous beds are obscured by a thick crust of travertine, but 

 at the North-East slope of the hill there is an extensive exposure 

 of the " blue metal," or lower limestone beds, and on the succeed- 

 ing hill, both in ascent and descent, the coral beds show through 

 the turf in numerous slabs, maintaining their highly fossiliferous 

 character. 



About three miles from Sellick's Hill an important exposure of 

 these beds is seen in the bed of a creek and on the sloping sides 

 of the valley, at a spot which can be easily located as being 

 directly in the line of sight with a district road which runs as a 

 straight line for miles in a northerly direction. The stream has 

 cut the coralline bed at right angles, the latter occupying the bed 

 of the creek for a distance of thirty yards. The overlying flaggy 

 limestone gave the strike as N.E. and S.W., dip 58°. From this 

 point the fossiliferous outcrop was followed for another mile, 

 many good exposures being noted. 



At five miles the lower bed (g) outcrops with very strong posts 

 of compact limestone in a creek situated a little west of Mr. 

 McBurney's homestead. The gathering darkness of evening pre- 

 vented further geological observations at this interesting spot.* 



The Flaggy Limestones. 



The flaggy or earthy limestones which overlie the Archceo- 

 cyathince marbles are very constant and characteristic over a long 

 distance, and whilst the fossiliferous marbles are confined to the 

 foot-hills, these overlying impure limestones, with serrated out- 



* See Postscript. 



