266 REPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE. — 1915. 



5. Is the correlation usually made with other areas in the Southern 



Hemisphere and with India surely and definitely established? 

 For instance, is the correlation suggested in the included table 

 agreed to by members of the Committee? Reasons for agree- 

 ment or disagreement are requested. 



6. Are the relations between Devonian and Carboniferous rocks in 



the Southern Hemisphere everywhere conformable ? If not, where 

 do discordances occur? 



7. Further statements as to regions of discordance and of accordance 



of the junction between Carboniferous and Permo-Carboniferous 

 rocks in Southern Hemisphere are requested. 



8. In New South Wales (in places), in South Africa and in India, the 



Permo-Carboniferous merges into the Mesozoic apparently without 

 break. This may also occur at Bacchus Marsh. This raises the 

 question as to defining the upper limit of Permo-Carboniferous and 

 its distinction from Permian. 



III. 



Discussion of the above Notes and Table by Professor T. W. Edge- 

 worth David, C.M.G., D.Sc, F.R.S., &c. {Chairman of Committee). 



Question 1. Local terms such as Bowen (system name), Gympie 

 (series name), Bacchus Marsh (stage or series name), might with ad- 

 vantage be retained, as they are useful for describing local developments 

 of rocks which while not necessarily synchronous {e.g., 'Bowen' 

 probably takes in far more than 'Bacchus Marsh ') are to be grouped 

 within the general term Permo-Carbonifei*ous A single name to take 

 in all local divisions (' Bowen,' &c.) is desirable. 



Question 2. Permo-Carboniferous had better be retained for the 

 present. It was suggested by E. Etheridge, Jun., in 1880 (see ' Proc. 

 Eoy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh,' 1880, vol. v. p. 319), where E. Ethe- 

 ridge 's report is recorded on the first collection of fossils sent to 

 him by Dr. E. L. Jack. Unfortunately specimens from the Star beds 

 (typically Carboniferous [T. W. E. D.]) were mixed up with Gympie 

 and other typical Permo-Carboniferous fossils in this collection. Dr. 

 Jack at this time thought the Star beds to be newer than the Gympie, 

 but this view has now been given up, and the Star beds are considered 

 older than the Gympie. But although the true Carboniferous (Star 

 beds) are now eliminated from E. Etheridge's original Permo-Carboni- 

 ferous system, he considers that there is still a sufficiency of Carboni- 

 ferous types in other true Permo-Carboniferous areas in Queensland to 

 justify the retention of the term for all formations within the Common- 

 wealth from the basal Glacial beds up to the topmost beds which contain 

 any trace of the Glossopteris Flora. 



The recent discovery in the Seaham district of New South Wales of 

 Glacial beds at the base of the Lower Marine series passing downwards 

 into Rhacopteris {Aneimites)-hea.rmg shales, with in one case a frag- 

 ment of Aneim,ites in the shales associated with the lowest Glacial bed. 



