JULY, 1901. 



The monthlj- meeting of the society was 

 held at Hotaart on Tuesday, July 30th, 

 the Bishop of Tasmania presiding. There 

 was a good attendance. 



Three new members were elected — Dr. 

 P. C. Boyd, Mr. Russell, E. Macnaghten, 

 B.A., and Mr. Henry J. Wise. 



Apologies for inability to attend from 

 the president of the society. Sir John 

 Dodcts, from the senior vice-president. Sir 

 James Agnew, and from the Hon. N. J. 

 Brown, were received . 



Mr. Alex. Morton, in the absence of 

 Mr. W. ?. Petterd said that that gentle- 

 man had prepared two papers of interest 

 They- would be printed for the 

 use of members. The first of 

 these papers was on the "Micros- 

 copic Structure of Some Tasmanian 

 Rocks." It described some aberrant 

 members of the basalt family, which, al- 

 though not common in Tasmania, are 

 occasionally met with. Tachylyte 

 was a glassy form of basalt, originat- 

 ing from the rapid cooling of the magma 

 by contact with a cooler substance. It 

 was commonly found in thin layers 

 but sometimies is met with, as at 

 Bothwell, in comparatively large lumps. 

 It also occurs at Fernhill, near Dedding- 

 ton, and. in a lesser quantitj^, at Buruie. 

 Limburgite (from the Burnie-Waratah 

 railway) was a dense, hard, and ex- 

 tremely tough rock, so much so that it 

 became notorious during the constriiic- 

 tion of the Burnie and Waratah railway. 

 It is dark, almost black in colour, and 

 very line grained in texture. Basalt- 

 vitrophyre (from Shefheld was microsco- 

 pically one of the most attractive rocks 

 in Tasmania. It was usually intensely 

 black, extremely brittle, and easily re- 

 duced to fragments. Hydrated olivine 

 basalt (Native Point, Perth) was a rock 

 of abnormal physical character, invari- 

 ably heavy from the absorbed moisture, 

 and soft to a degree. It fractures on ex- 

 posure to atmospheric action. It closely 

 resembles palagonite, and was obtained 

 in sinking holes in the locality mentioned. 



Mr. Petterd's other paper was on some 

 laud shells from Maria Island, Tasmania. 



Coal Discovery at Wynyard. 



Mr. R. M. Johnston, Government Sta- 

 tistician, read the following note on the 

 Wynyard discovery: — 



"1 had read with miich interest of the 

 discovery of coal on the north-western 

 part of Tasmania, near Wynyard, a few 

 weeks ago. Hitherto the existence of 

 members belonging either to the mesozoic 



or upper coal measures, or to the permo- 

 carbon or lower coal measures, of Tas- 

 mania, was unknown to geologists, in all 

 that region of the North-West Coast lying; 

 between the Mersey Coal Basin and Cape 

 Grim. A few days ago, I was fortunate 

 in receiving from Mr. Victor West, of 

 W,ynyard, a specimen of the bituminoiia 

 shale associated with the mewlj^-discover- 

 ed coal seam exposed on the Inglis River, 

 about 16 miles south of Wynyard. For- 

 timately, Mr. West selected a piece of the 

 shale bearing a clear impression of a por- 

 tion of the frond of a fossil fern. The- 

 typical plant remains of tbis 

 period are two species of a genus of the 

 Coniferse (Noggerathopsis) ; characteris- 

 tic net-veined ferns of the Genera, Gam- 

 gamopteris and Glossopteris; and lyco- 

 pods of the Genera Tasmanites and; Schi- 

 zoneura. The following are the locailities- 

 where the lower coal measures were known 

 hitherto to occur in Tasmania, viz., Mer- 

 sey, Tippagory Range, Tamar, Mount 

 Pelion, Henty River, Fingal, Ben Lo- 

 mond, Harefield, Adventure Bay, and 

 Mount Cygnet. As a iiile, when coal 

 seams occur in these lower coal measures,, 

 they are found to be purer, more bitxi- 

 menous, and freer from ash than the cool 

 seams of mdsozoicage? They are,, 

 therefore, better adapted for steam pur- 

 poses and for the production of gas, than 

 the coal seams of the later age, which 

 alone hitherto have been worked to any 

 extent in Tasmania. It is to be hoped 

 that the discovery at Wynyard may turn 

 oiit to be a good working seam, or seams. 

 If so, it will be of untold value to the 

 district of Wynyard, as well as to. the 

 colony generally. Mr. West has kindly 

 promised to give me further particuliars- 

 regarding the general geology of this dis- 

 trict at an early date, which I shall be 

 pleased to communicate to the fellows of 

 this society." 



Replying to questions, Mr. Johnston 

 said he had not sufficient particulars yet 

 to say whether the searn or seams were of 

 sutJicient size for favourable working. 



Mr. T. Stephens said that at a meeting 

 of the society in 1869, he exhibited a 

 pebble of hard and compact kerosene 

 shale, foiind with many others near the- 

 mouth of the River Inglis, and expressed 

 the opinion that portions of the carboni- 

 ferous series from which it had come, 

 though removed by denudition near the 

 coast line, would one day be foiind at no 

 great distance inland. This shale is prac- 

 tically identical with the so-called "can- 

 nel coal," discovered a few years ag» near 

 Barn Bluff. 



