208 Rev. W. B. Clarke on the Identity of the Epoch of the 



Mr. Jukes as so extremely abundant not only on the descent of 

 Mount Keera, in the midst of the great sandstone, above the coaly 

 but also on the beach at Towrudgi Point to the northward. 



Since the first part of Mr. M^Coy^s paper reached this coun- 

 try, I have instituted an inquiry into some localities in order to 

 re-examine the facts which I have stated elsewhere. The result 

 is, that at Muree (which is a locality not far from Raymond 

 Terrace) I found the same lumps of rock containing not only 

 the palaeozoic fossils described by Mr. M'Coy, but also impres- 

 sions of stems and leaves of Glossopteris lineata ; so that no doubt 

 whatever can exist, that at Muree there is a distinct " confusion 

 of typcy' or the plants and testacea, and crinoids and zoophytes 

 are of the same age. Again, at Anvil Creek, west of Harpur's 

 Hill, true coal of good quality is overlaid by beds of gray grit, 

 scarcely distinguishable from one of the Mulubimba beds, charged 

 with Spirifers and other fossils described by Mr. M^Coy. On 

 the Page river, a tributary of the Upper Hunter, the same fossils 

 occur over coal, and at Mount Wingan the conglomerate which 

 lies considerably above the coal is filled with Spirifers, &c. 



Stems and leaves of ferns occur also in fossiliferous beds on 

 the AUyn, and in various parts of the Hunter River district. 

 At Paramatta casts of shells have been found in quarries at the 

 very top of the great sandstone and between it and the Wiana- 

 matta beds, which are on the Illawarra escarpment full 800 feet 

 above the coal. And these Wianamatta beds, at darkens Hill and 

 elsewhere in the Cowpasture country, abound with ferns. Near 

 Campbell Town the shales contain fish, as at Paramatta, and a 

 new coral. It is my intention to forward to Europe a new series 

 of specimens, as it is impossible to compare them here from want 

 of collections. 



In the meanwhile, I have to solicit of geologists that they 

 will not too hastily admit the vast hiatus supposed between the 

 coal-beds of Australia and the other fossiliferous beds, or refuse 

 to the statements I now put forth their indulgence. 



I am inclined to assent to the statement first made respecting 

 the Pachydomus bed overlying coal at Spring Hill, Van Diemen^s 

 Land, having recently received some specimens of shells iden- 

 tical with some of those described by Mr. M^Coy, from Broad- 

 water on the river Jordan, V.D.L., which fully bear out the 

 evidence from Spring Hill. 



My impression is, that our Australian coal-beds interpolate 

 the series which Mr. M'Coy determines to be of a far older 

 epoch; and that the coal is derived from drifted matter, for 

 w^hich latter conclusion there is abundant evidence. I shall be 

 able to produce also some plants from our coal-field, which I feel 

 confident will tend to unite the two disjointed portions of our 



