BY B. M. JOHNSTON, F.S.S. 17 



larger quarry at tlie Portland cement works are stated 

 to belong to the lower part of this series. The biihr- 

 stone referred to might yet prove to be of commercial 

 value for milling purposes, as it is very abundant and 

 easily quarried. It is greatly to be regretted that the 

 manufacture of Portland cement at this place has failed 

 of success, seeing, as Mr. Montgomery has reported, that 

 good cement has already been manufactured there, and 

 that there are good facilities of all sorts for making and 

 shipping larger quantities of it. 



To the geologist and paleontologist, the Darlington 

 beds of Permo-Carboniferous age are of the greatest 

 interest. The fossils of these rocks afford a splendid 

 field for further palaeontological investigations. Pro- 

 fessor Boehm, of Freiburg University, Baden, whom I 

 recently induced to visit this fine section at Darlington, 

 declared to me that to him, as a professional palaeontolo- 

 gist, it was the grandest sight that he bad ever beheld. 

 The main object that I had in view in recording these 

 observations is that it may perhaps induce the younger 

 members to systematically extend our knowledge of the 

 Permo-Carboniferous age in Tasmania, and especially of 

 these Darlington beds. I am indebted to Mr. Mont- 

 gomery's paper for the large detailed table of strata 

 appended, and for the sections which illustrate them. 

 (Appendix B.) 



For the series of splendid photographic slides of the 

 Darlington fossil cliffs, prepared to illustrate this 

 paper by Mr. Beattie, I am indebted to my friend, 

 your Secretary, Mr. A. Morton, who obtained them 

 when he last visited the island for this purpose, accom- 

 panied by Dr. Boehm. The enlarged figures of typical 

 fossils of these rocks, to be shown on the screen, are 

 taken from the plates which illustrate my large work, 

 " Systematic Account of the Geology of Tasmania." 



As the limestones quarried by the Maria Island Com- 

 pany for the manufacture of Portland cement are of 

 much interest, from an economic point of view, I have 

 appended (Appendix A) a valuable analytical report of 

 the character of these limestones, submitted to Mr. 

 Wallace, Secretary for Mines, by Mr, W. F, Ward, 

 Government Analyst, 



