BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.S.S. 13 



as it embraces the distant outlines of the fantastic chain 

 of serrated granite ranges of the Schouten Island and 

 Freycinet's Peninsula. Away to the extreme north 

 these crests melt away towards the cultivated settlements 

 around Swansea and Great Swanport, at the head of 

 Oyster Bay ; while to the left stands out the bold coast- 

 line of the mainland, lying between Cape Bernier and 

 Okehampton, near the entrance to Spring Bay. 



Immediately to the north and east of Darlington, 

 along the coast-line, occurs a low-lying spur of the 

 diabasic greenstone, which suddenly terminates at the 

 western shoulder of the great cliff-encircled half-moon 

 bay lying directly under " The Bishop and Clerk." 



From the point where the diabasic greenstone spur 

 terminates, the coast-line north and east encircling the 

 half-moon bay is walled in by perpendicular and partly 

 overhanging cliffs, composed of stratified marine beds 

 of the Permo-Carboniferous system. Looking down- 

 ward from the crest of one of these perpendicular cliffs, 

 in the direction of the " Bishop and Clerk," whose 

 slopes and crest, composed of diabasic greenstone, rise 

 abruptly from above the 400 feet perpendicular stratified 

 fossil cliffs to a height of nearly 3000 feet, the half-moon 

 bay and its environing fossil cliffs present a scene 

 of exceeding grandeur. Along the base of the cliffs 

 of stratified rocks there is a narrow marginal strip 

 of low flat rocky ledges, upon which have accumulated, 

 at certain points, vast quantities of fossiliferous blocks 

 of limestone and mudstone, which, by the continuous 

 undermining action of the great open sea-rollers, have 

 been detached from time to time from the overhanging 

 ledges on the face of the beetling cliffs. 



The huge blocks which have fallen from these over- 

 hanging cliffs are strewn about or tumbled upon each 

 other in the wildest confusion, while the fossils on the 

 surface of the limestone masses, by the weathering 

 action of sea and air, stand out in bold relief in greatest 

 perfection. 



The genus Pachydomus, Avith its large globose specific 

 forms, is especially noticeable. Blocks, 40 and 50 tons 

 in weight, seem at first sight to be made up of a 

 compacted conglomerate of these large fossil bivalves ; 

 but a closer inspection reveals the presence of numerous 



