THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 163 



Amongst the Cretaceous rocks tilted by the upheaval of the 

 eastern coast-line are extensive beds of bibulous sandstone, 

 which crop up at high elevations on the landward side of the 

 ranges. (See diagram.} These ranges, densely forested, attract 



II. 



Water. bearing Strata. , Eastern Australia.. 



ill 



(6") 



PACEOTJS. 1, Desert Sandstone. 



2, " Boiling Downs " Formation. 



3, Water-bearing Strata. 



JURASSIC. 4, Darling Downs Basalt. 



5, Carboniferous Measures. 

 TEIASSIC. 6, Toowoomba Basalt. 



7, Sandstones and Carboniferous 



Strata. 

 PALEOZOIC. 8, Silurian Rocks. 



a heavy rainfall, a good proportion of which is taken into the 

 absorbent beds, and is passed underground to great distances. 

 Thus a storage reservoir is formed, available by means of 

 artesian bores, for the supply of farms and mining ventures far 

 away in the deserts of the interior. Many hundreds of these 

 bores are now effectively at work. 



Botany. In the "Dirt-bed" at Portland are found some 

 lumps, called by the quarrymen " Crows' nests," which are 

 really the bulbous stems of Zamias. These plants belong to the 

 Cycadacece, an Order abundantly represented in Queensland and 

 New South Wales to-day. Dr. Carruthers (Tr.L.S., xxvi., 675) 

 mentions 6 sp. as having been found in Dorset. 



