43 



side of the creek, a section of the secondary strata is exposed 

 from eight to ten feet in height. Although in close proximity 

 to the knoll which yielded the greatest variety of fossil species, 

 none were discovered in the face of this section. The lower 

 portion of the section consists chiefly of soft clayey material,, 

 whilst the upper beds are composed of much harder rock. 



Quitting this place, and following the bed of the stream 

 about fifty yards to the north-east, I discovered a band of old 

 rocks running across the bed of the creek, the strike of which 

 was found to be 10° north of west, dip 45° to the south. A 

 reversal in the dip of the primitive beds between here and the 

 Davenport Springs can only be accounted for by the fact that 

 the Humphrey's Springs beds are situated further to the 

 north-east in the old series of beds than those occurring at the 

 Davenport Springs with an anticline intervening, causing the 

 alteration of dip between the two places. From the large 

 amount of saline matter deposited over the bed of the creek, 

 it might be considered that the waters from the springs would 

 be far less palatable than they are. 



After leaving the springs we crossed to the northern side of 

 the Gregory, from which position we could look back and see 

 the hill of primitive rocks, which constitute the range south- 

 west of the Davenport Springs, dipping under the secondary 

 beds to the north-west. The Priscilla Springs were next 

 reached. Here a considerable quantity of mineral incrusta- 

 tions is spread over the bed of the creek, caused by the evapo- 

 ration of the waters from the springs, around which sand and 

 sandhills abound. The flow of water is not great, but is very 

 fair in quality. We passed within a mile of Lake Phibs, the 

 waters of which, I was informed, are very salt, and that in the 

 centre of the lake there is an island with a spring of very salt 

 water upon it. "We crossed Stuart's Creek a little above the 

 highway crossing, the north-western bank of which rises in 

 places from eight to ten feet high. I had been informed that 

 fossils were to be found here, but although I looked carefully 

 for such I Observed none. The non-fossiliferous character of 

 the deposits at this place does not by any means imply a similar 

 absence of fossil remains further up the creek. 



Passing Stuart's Creek we crossed the Margaret Eiver, and 

 afterwards came upon more knolls containing fossils^ For 

 several days from this point we passed over a succession of 

 arid plains almost bare of vegetation, making a detour of about 

 two miles in a more westerly direction by the Mount Hamilton 

 cattle yards, after which we crossed a creek and passed over a 

 very stony plain to the Warburton Springs, from the _ chief of 

 which a considerable volume of water flows, but soon disappears 

 through evaporation and absorption, not reaching beyond the 



