THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST 119 
sandstone of the ranges is liable to degradation and entire removal 
is apparent at Mt, Arapiles, where one large portion of the mountain 
has become detached, and now forms a separate rock mass, well 
known under the name of the Mitre Rock, from its resemblance to a 
bishop’s mitre, and between this and Arapiles proper, the main road 
from Horsham to Spring Hill now runs ; to say that it is a sandy 
one is unnecessary. Other smaller portions of Arapiles have also 
broken off from the main mass, and itis clear that in a comparatively 
short time, geologically speaking, nothing will be left of it but a 
line of sandy ground ; the mountain itself is undoubtedly a mere 
fragment of what it once was, the greater part having crumbled 
completely away. A study of what is taking place in this miniature 
range, so diminished by the degradation of ages as to be now little 
more than an isolated peak, is very instructive. It is itself in the 
line of one sandy strip of country, while both east and west of it 
other similar bands oceue parallel with it, in some of which actual 
sandstone rocks crop out ; it is moreover far removed from any other 
considerable mass of sandstone, being left, as it were, an outlying 
monument of mountain chains, now all but obliterated. This is not 
a mere figure of speech, for it may, I think, be safely concluded that 
the meridional sandy belts of Lowan and the adjacent counties are 
simply the remnants of formerly existing parallel ranges of sandstone 
hills, which in the lapse of ages have become entirely disintegrated ; 
we are able thus to contemplate a period in the geological history of 
the region when the Grampians extended much beyond their present 
limits, and included at least three other distinct lines of hills lying 
more to the west than any of those now remaining. 
Whether these obliterated ranges were ever as high as the present 
ones may be doubted. The evidence is against their having been 
so, as there seems to be a gradual lessening in height towards the 
west, the Serra, in the extreme cast, being the highest. 
If the ranges were upheaved in successive earth waves, it is easy 
to suppose that the disturbing force producing them was at its 
maximum in the neighbourhood of the Serra, and gradually dimin- 
ished in intensity towards the west, till it ceased altogether. 
I have hitherto made no reference to the submergence of much of 
the land in this province during tertiary times, but there is ample 
evidence to show that such was the case to a considerable extent 
throughout the counties of Follet and Lowan, marine shells of this 
age haying been found not very far below the surface in many parts, 
clese up to the margins of the lines of sand. I have not heard of 
shells being discovered beneath the sand, and I do not think it at 
all likely that they will be found there, except in isolated localities. 
The submergence was only partial in Lowan, ridges of sandstone 
hills having always remained beyond the reach of the waves. 
On the flanks of Dundas, Victoria, and Serra, no fossils are 
