entirely removed and replaced by pure silica in tlie form of 

 bluish or white semitransparent hyaline. North and west from 

 Parara these grits are elevated about 250 to 260 feet above 

 those two miles south-east of that place, where they emerge 

 with a low angle from beneath the beach sands. The most 

 distant outlier of the grits occupies the summit of the highest 

 hill on the coast range in Section 22, the elevation of which is 

 266 feet. 



Supposing an area of basin-like form to be uniformly de- 

 pressed, the first deposits would fill the lowest levels and the 

 following extend gradually over more extended areas, levelling 

 all inequalities in the course of time. If afterwards such a 

 basin became elevated again, the central portions would be first 

 removed, occupying somewhat lower levels. At last only the 

 fringes of such deposits would be left in protected localities. 

 And this is jDrecisely the case here, as of the Silurian series 

 we only meet the conglomeratic sandstone inland, where the 

 least depression occurred ; so with the Tertiary we meet only 

 the grits inland fringing the low tracts near the summits of the 

 surrounding hills in detached parts. The only place where 

 distinct fossils were discovered by me is about the south-west 

 corner of Section 41, where they were preserved in mottled 

 ferruginous coarse sandstone, associated with nodules of iron 

 oxide. The latter, though, have been noticed at numerous 

 points, apparently on a uniform level, over arenaceous shales, 

 quartzites, gneiss, and even granite. This seems to prove that 

 the Eocene sea extended thus far with sufficient depth to form 

 layers, yet of so inconsiderable dimensions that most were 

 swept away subsequently, only leaving the hardest and most 

 ponderous portions as a momento of its sway. A similar 

 sandstone has been met with at a few points containing the 

 nodules, but no fossils. 



Land appears to have been in existence within easy distance 

 during the deposition of the grits, covered with some forest 

 vegetation, though the fossil remains as yet recovered are very 

 limited. A single specimen of a leaf, resembling those of some 

 Cinnamomum species in venation, has been found impressed 

 upon a fragment of this rock. Its form is broadly lanceolate, 

 length one and a half inches, width five-eighths of an inch. 

 Specimens of silicified wood are much more numerous. 



After finding some few fragments along the beach and others 

 among the gravels forming the upper portion of the cliifs, I 

 succeeded in finding a spot where they strewed the ground in 

 plenty, viz., on the road crossing Horse Gully between Sections 

 22 and 30. There they are embedded in the clays covering the 

 Silurian limestones, are of medium size with sharp angles, and 

 most likely belong to one or more trunks that floated out to 



