Age of the Australian 'Tertiaries. 329" 



which the author fully supports. Mr. Chapman's work on the 

 Batesford Limestone is important in this connexion, because of its 

 containing Zepidocyelina, Amphistegina, and Lithothamnium — all of 

 which characterize the Miocene beds of Europe, Java, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, Formosa, etc. ; the absence of nummulites in this limestone 

 is against its age being either Eocene or Oligocene. These same 

 limestones have also yielded Mollusca and Brachiopoda, as well as 

 Carcharodon megalodon, which has its origin in Miocene rocks. The 

 author was of opinion that the Lower Tertiary faunas of Australia 

 presented in some cases a recent facies, in others a Miocene facies, 

 with relationships to both European and South American species of 

 that period. Among shells showing a resemblance to those of 

 present-day seas, he mentioned Cassis contusus, Siphonalia spatiosa, 

 Typhis laciniatus, all Tate's species, and mostly from the Muddy 

 Creek deposits ; and many more species might be quoted exhibiting 

 a more or less recent • appearance. Among fossil forms more 

 particularly referred to was the Aturia aturi, var. australis, which 

 has been recognized as coming from the Eocene of Australia. 

 Although given a varietal name, this Cephalopod is not to be 

 separated from the Miocene species of Europe known as Aturia aturi, 

 and with this statement Mr. Crick, of the British Museum, thoroughly 

 agrees. The species is found in many of the Australian deposits, as 

 also in the Table Cape Beds of Tasmania, the Oamaru Beds of New 

 Zealand, the Navidad Beds of Chili, South America, as also in the 

 European Miocene. The more or less pointed rostrum of Spirulirostra 

 curta illustrates an affinity with Miocene forms rather than with 

 Eocene, which are more obtuse. 



The large Cyprceas described by M'Coy as Oligocene should more 

 probably be regarded as Miocene, since they come from the Gellibrand 

 River Beds, Muddy Creek deposits, etc., which also contain the 

 Aturia aturi before mentioned. The Brachiopods of the Lower 

 Tertiary deposits of Australia show a somewhat recent facies, 

 a striking form bein°: Magellania garibaldiana — a species occurring in 

 the Mount Gambier Beds in association with the Aturia aturi. 



Even before Mr. Chapman pointed out the Miocene characters of 

 the Lower Tertiary deposits 'of Australia, Dr. Ortmann, of the 

 United States, had published in 1902 his important monograph on 

 The Tertiary Deposits of Patagonia, in which he compared the faunas 

 of that continent with those of Australia. His researches were 

 against the presence of Eocene in the Tertiaries of Australasia, and 

 those beds hitherto recorded as such he identified as Miocene, and 

 contemporaneous with the Pareora Beds of New Zealand, Navidad 

 Series of Chili, and the Patagonian deposits, all of which showed 

 unmistakable affinities with each other and favoured the view that 

 a former connexion existed between South America and Australasia. 



The term Oligocene among Australasian marine Tertiaries, the 

 author was inclined to abandon because of the absence of Nummulites, 

 their place being taken by Amphistegina and Lepidocycline forms of 

 Foraminifera. Such rocks he would regard as Miocene. This would 

 apply to the Balcombian and Jaujukian Beds of Mornington, etc., 

 and the older deposits of Muddy Creek aud other localities. 



