BY W. F. PETTERD. PAI 
frequently impregnated in the rock itself, in which case it is of 
primary origin. As occurring in lodes or veins of secondary 
character it is usually much more permanent, and may then be 
expected to exist in depth. This island is one of the most 
important tin-producing countries of the world, and a peculiar 
interest is attached to its discovery, as it was apparently one of 
the first minerals found in Australasia of which we have any 
record. Professor Liversidge states (“ Minerals of New South 
Wales,” page 77), ‘‘ The probable presence of tin in Australia was 
mentioned as early as January, 1799. Collins, in his account of 
the English colony of New South Wales, states that Mr. Bass, 
the surgeon of H.M.S. Reliance, found on the beach of 
Preservation Island (on the north coast of Tasmania, near the 
south coast of Barren Island) a very considerable quantity of the 
black metallic particles which appear in the granite as black 
shining specks, and are in all probability grains of tin.” The 
- next record that I have met with occurs in the Proceedings of this 
Society for the year 1854, page 425-431, in which reference is made 
to samples in the museum of a Mr. Thomas Winsmore Wilson, of 
Barnsley, Yorkshire, England. In this paper the following 
remarks occur: ‘‘ No. 25, Tinstone—as regards this Tinstone I 
need not remind you of its value. If you could open a mine as 
rich in Tin as this specimen you would be very fortunate in the 
mining department.” This sample was obtained “on elevated 
land below the Tier, St. Paul’s Plains.” The wonderfully rich 
deposit of tin at Mount Bischoff was discovered by Mr. James 
Smith in 1871, and soon after that year many other payable finds 
occurred, principally in the north-eastern portion of the island. 
It is now known to occur, both as drift and lode, at many places 
throughout the northern portions, several of the eastern islands in 
Bass Straits, and it has been iecently discovered at one locality 
near the extreme southern coast. 
It may be enough, from a mineralogical standpoint, to state 
that almost all of the many recorded varieties of this important 
mineral have been found more or less abundantly at one or other of 
our tin-producing districts. The ordinary “ Black Tin” pre- 
dominates, but the coloured varieties are by no means rare at special 
localities. The “Ruby Tin” varies from pale red to a ruby tint, 
and is often quite pellucid; it is fairly abundant in the drift at 
Branxhom, Moorina, and Weldborough. The “ Resin Tin” is 
usually dull, waxy, and opaque, and of a yellow to pale brown in 
colour. It occurs at several of the mines in Gould’s Country 
and at Moorina; both of these kinds are of exceptional occurrence 
in the lode matrix, but the first has recently been discovered in the 
Ben Lomond District. 
The coloured forms are as a rule confined to the produce of the 
north-eastern tin fields, that from the north-western portion being 
the ordinary Black Tin of commerce. At the South Pieman 
