Notices of Memoirs — The Term Permo-Carboniferous. 469 



Gympie, which contained an assemblage of fossils of distinct Permian 

 affinities, were stratigraphically below another set of strata known as 

 the Star Beds. The latter contain among other fossils Phillipsia, 

 Lepidodendron Australe, and Aneimites, all typical Carboniferous 

 fossils in Australia, and the first mostly of Devonian age. Accordingly 

 these formations were grouped together under the term Permo- 

 Carboniferous, and the name has subsequently been widely used. 

 It has now been proved that, so far as Queensland is concerned, the 

 name has been given in error. The Gympie Beds are stratigraphically 

 above the Star Beds, not below as was originally supposed. Nowhere 

 in Australia or Tasmania has a single trilobite or Lepidodendron ever 

 been found in our Carboniferous rocks proper. In the absence of 

 a zoning of these Carboniferous rocks it is impossible to say what 

 exactly are its equivalents in other parts of the world. If it is wlioUy 

 Lower Carboniferous, as some suppose, there may be some justification 

 for the retention of the term Permo-Carboniferous, but if its fauna 

 and flora ascend to Upper Carboniferous, then it is suggested that there 

 is much to be said in favour of using the term Permian instead. In 

 Kiissia Schizodus occurs in numbers beneath the whole, not only of the 

 Glossopteris beds, but of the Gangamopteris beds also of the Dwina 

 system. In South America the Lower Rocks of the Santa Catliarina 

 system appear to be more Permian than anything else, and the 

 occurrence of the strong swimming reptile Mesosaurus both in the 

 Permo-Carboniferous j'ocks of South America and of South Africa 

 suggests that the South African Permo-Carboniferous rocks also may 

 be chiefly Permian. 



In the correlation of the Australian Permo-Carboniferous formations, 

 special emphasis is laid on the Indian facies of the West Australian 

 Permo-Carboniferous fauna. 



(7) The Evolution of Vjctoria during thk Kainozoic Period. 

 By D. J. Mahont, M.Sc, F.G.S., Geological Survey of Victoria. 



rilHE Kainozoic period in Victoria is cliaracterized by great earth. 

 X movements accompanied by volcanic action ; the present topo- 

 graphy is a consequent development. 



The central highland area (Palaeozoic rocks) extends from the 

 eastern boundiiry of the state westwards to the Grampians; to the 

 north and south it is bounded by low-lying plains (Kainozoic strata), 

 which gradually broaden towards the west until they merge into 

 one another. To the soutli Vv^ilson's Promontory (granite). South 

 Gippsland (Mesozoic), and the Cape Otway district (Mesozoic) rise 

 above the plains. The highland area is essentially a dissected 

 peneplain sinking from some 5,000 feet above sea-level in Gippsland 

 to 900 feet at its western extremity ; the only Kainozoic rocks upon 

 it are river- gravels, lake-deposits, and volcanics. 



The plains (500 feet) are areas of Kainozoic sedimentation with 

 some interbedded and overlying volcanic rocks; the sedimentary 

 series consists of lacustrine or estuarine beds, followed by marine 

 clays (Oligocene), foraminiferal limestones (Miocene), and sandstones 

 (Pliocene). These beds rest upon Palaeozoic or Mesozoic rocks. 



