1308 



A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



connected in the temperate zone with South America. On the other hand, there is no clear 

 evidence of its having been connected during the Tertiary times with Australia, lying to 

 the westward. On the whole, the geological record, so far as yet known, is more complete 

 in New Zealand than in the Australian area." 



TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL SEDIMENTARY FORMATIONS OF AUSTRALASIA, WITH SOME OF 



THEIR CHARACTERISTIC GENERA OF FOSSILS. 



( Human bones and implements; re- 



' POQT 1 H eceri t -\ mains of plants and animals of living 



( species; Dinornis, Aptornis, &c. (extinct). 

 TERTIARY j . j Diprotodon, Macropus, Thylacoleo, 



\ 1 leiStOCene I Thylacinus, Thylacopardus, Notiosaurus, 



CAINOZOIC, j ' Megalania, Dromornis. 



"i j Spondylostrol-us, Wilkinsonia, Pen- 



f Pliocene J teune, Plesiocapparis ; Unio, Rotella, 



( Pleurotoma, Pecten, Pileopsis, &c. 



,,. ( Squalodou, Trigonia, Terebratula, 



TERTIARY 4 -j Clypeaster, Murex, Fusus, Cucullaea, 



' Corals, &c. 



iFagus, Quercus, Cinnamomum, 

 Pteris, Getonites, &c. ; Insects ; Limopsis, 

 j Voluta, Cyprsea, Dcntalium, Cardium, 

 { Cardium. Meoma. 



Protophyllum, Oleandridum, Dani- 

 p i marites, Auricaurites, &c.; Icthyo- 



* saurus, Plesiosaurus ; Ammonites. 



Belemnites, Cideris. Avicula, Trigonia, 

 Baculites, &c. 



1 Pecopteris, Taxites, Pterophyllum, 

 Jurassic J Macrotsenioptcris, Taeniopteris, &c. ; 



MESOZOIC, OR SECONDARY^ | SH" 



Liassic / Belemnites, Plagiostoma, Pholo- 



( domya, Spiriferina. 



f Macrotseniopteris, Tainiopteris, Gan- 

 | gamopteris, Zamites, Thinnfeldia, &c. ; 



TriaSSlC i Tremanotis, Unio, Clavigera, Spirigera, 



| Monotis, Spiriferina, &c. ; Palasoniscus, 

 Myriolopis, &c. ; Mastodonsaurus, 

 \ Platyceps. 

 ( Glossopteris, Vertebraria, Sphenop- 



' Permian -j teris phyllotheca; Trigonotreta, Spiri- 



' ferina, Epithyris; Urosthenes. 



Glossopteris, Phyllotheca, Sphenop- 

 .-. , i teris, Annularia, &c. ; Spirifer, Pachy- 



Carboniferous ...J domus Productus ; Orthoccras . Corals . 



&c. : Rhacopteris, Lepidodendron, Cala- 

 mites, Archa;opteris, &c. 



Lepidodrendon, Cyclostigma; Spiri- 



PAL^OZOlC, OR I LIMARY -{ Devonian J f er . Rhynchonella. Atrypa, Orthis. 



( Orthoceras, Corals, &c. ; Asterolepis. 

 C Phacops, Brouteus, Calymene, 

 Pentamerus, Atrypa, Cyathophyllum, 



Silurian J Halysites. Spirifera. Murchisonia, 



j Graptolites, Didymograptus, Hymeno- 

 l caris, Lingula. 



Cambrian / Conocephalites, Dolichometopns, 



(. Dikelocephalus. 



PRIMARY OR PAL/EOZOIC. 



Cambrian. The oldest known rocks in Australia are certain sedimentary beds, 

 including limestones, near Adelaide in South Australia, and Tasmania, in which fossils of 

 Cambrian ' age have been discovered ; and in Western Victoria are some metamorphic 

 schists which are regarded by Selwyn as pre-Cambrian or Laurentian ; but hitherto no 

 fossils have been found in them. 



Silurian. The Silurian series are extensively represented in Victoria, New South 

 Wales, New Zealand and Tasmania. They consist of altered sandstones, conglomerates, 

 schists and limestones, tilted into numerous anticlinal and synclinal folds, generally 

 striking in a meridional direction, and have been estimated to be not less than 35,000 

 feet thick. They are traversed by gold-bearing quartz-reefs from which, and from the 





