39 



SPECIES OF UPPEE MUEEAYIAIf. 



The fauna of this subdivision is very meagre, and it is only 

 at few spots where other than the ubiquitous oyster is found ; 

 and then, for the most part, the tests have more or less exfoliated, 

 so that it is not always possible to refer them to their generic 

 position. Besides the oyster there is a large Margariiifera, 

 Triqonia acuficosfata, McCoy, I^ectunculus Iniicostatus ? Area, 

 2 spp., TeJliiia, Mactra, &c., Chjpeaster Gippslandicus, McCoy. 



SPECIES OF THE MIDDLE MUREAYIAX. 



The soft calciferous sandstone which makes up the chief 

 part of the sub-formation, and which maintains a uniform 

 character from Overland Corner to many miles south of 

 Blanchetown, is especially rich in members of the families 

 Ostreidse, Limidae, Anomiada? and Pectinida>, in Palliobranchs, 

 Polyzoa, and Echinoderms. 



About Mannum the formation consists of red raggy lime- 

 stones, full of Lovenia Forhesii throughout its whole thickness 

 of about 150 feet, and of overlying coarse polyzoal rock of 

 about 10 feet ; in the latter Gatopygus elegans occurs. The 

 upper 40 or 50 feet contain the same assemblage of fossils as 

 the Middle Murravian further north ; and I incline to the 

 opinion that the whole embraces both the Middle and Lower 

 Series, but because of its lithological and, concurrently, palae- 

 ontological uniformity they are here not separable. 



Referring back to the ' Section at four miles south from 

 Morgan,' the beds numbered five to eight inclusive deserve 

 especial notice from the profusion of their fossils and from the 

 eircum-stance that the habitat is unique so far as regards the 

 cliffs. Here because of the slight admixture of argillaceous 

 matter in the matrix, the tests of gastropods and of many 

 bivalves have been well preserved, but this condition is main- 

 tained only for about 850 yards, measured along the front of 

 the cliff, beyond that the shells gradually disappear with the 

 diminution of clay, and finally at half-a-mile distant the beds 

 have merged into the limestones, caverned with casts, and 

 the ordinary calciferous rock. The absence of argillaceous 

 matter in the marine beds forming the gorge of the river is 

 remarkable ; but at varying distances beyond, well-sinkings 

 have revealed the occasional presence of clays, which are 

 usually rich in fossils identical with those of beds 5 to 8 just 

 treated of. 



The blue marl in the following section yielded fossils of 

 this character : — 



