Clarke — Geology of Western Australia. 551 



It is hardly necessary to say, that the age of these primseval men, 

 and of the above mentioned climate, stretches far beyond that of the 

 lake dwellings. In none of these lake settlements have any remains 

 been found of arctic wild and apparently domesticated animals, as at 

 Schussenried, Even in the oldest lake dwellings the animals which 

 are companions of men, do not differ in species from those of the 

 present day. No one, however, can believe that the Schussen spring 

 was merely an isolated station of these primasval-men. Flint knives 

 are found in various places scattered over our country, just as in the 

 district of the Dordogne, and seem to have escaped the inquisitive 

 eyes of our archasologists who have hitherto considered Eoman roads 

 and Celtic tumuli the earliest remains of our country. These imple- 

 ments of flint occur very commonly around the Schussenspring, and 

 may be collected in considerable quantities when the ground is newly 

 turned up, and this to such an extent as to be well known to the 

 manufacturers of instruments for tobacco smokers. 



There can be no doubt that numerous other places in Upper Swabia, 

 besides Schussenried might serve to illustrate the grade of civilization 

 of our ancestors. But the same cause which has preserved these 

 relics — viz., the water, which protected them from the atmosphere 

 renders the investigation of them in general very difficult. For how 

 seldom is a trench nineteen feet deep excavated under the bed of a 

 pond, and this in soft mud, as at Schussenried ? and even when such 

 works are undertaken, it is very rarely the case that a keen observer 

 of nature is at hand like Mr. Valet, of Schussenried, who by utilizing 

 the discoveries of chance has rendered incalculable service to science. 



Dk. Oscar Feaas. 



Stvttgakt, Tth October, 1866. 



nSTOTIOEIS OIF" iviiiEnvnoiiiS 



I. ^NOTES ON THE GeOLOGY OF WeSTERK AUSTRALIA. 



By the Kev. "W. B. Claekb, M.A., F.G.S., etc. 

 {Continued from the November No, p. 506.) 



The occurrence of felspathic dykes in the granite is quite in accor- 

 dance with the experience derived from other regions, both in and 

 beyond Australia, as on Bathurst Plaias and in other instances in 

 New South Wales, where there is no doubt as to relative age. 

 Moreover, as in other granitic regions, so in that under review, the 

 edges of the boss-like mass can be shown to have been subjected to 

 the influence of the forces by which it has been denuded. Referring 

 still to Mr. Lefroy's testimony, we find an eroded surface in 3l° 

 53/ S., and 117° 31^ E., and a pot-holed surface in 31° 29^ S. and 

 120° 11' E. ; whilst, at what must have been the limits of the boss, 

 we have the regular association of gneiss, chlorite, mica, and clay 

 slates on the surface, and at the edges of Mr. Lefroy's and Mr. 



