BY L. KEITH WARD, B.A., B.E. joc 



Many slightly different varieties of these exist, and 

 although the origin of most is readily recognisable at 

 once, that of others becomes apparent only after the 

 progress of weathering. 



The usual variety of schistose conglomerate is per- 

 haps best seen in the beach exposures between Ulver- 

 stone and Penguin — notably at Goat Island. The 

 pebbles are quartzose, and are often greatl}^ elongated. 

 The finer-grained portion of the rock is precisely similar 

 to many of the micaceous schists which do not contain 

 pebbles. 



A more altered, but still more easily recognisable' 

 conglomerate occurs at the eastern end of Calder's Pass 

 and on the lov\f country between that pass and the Jane 

 River. In this variety the jasperoid pebbles are exces- 

 sively flattened, and often sheared, by the crushing 

 forces. 



Not far from the locality where this variety was 

 seen, and close to the northern extremity of the Prince 

 of Wales Range, the .writer observed a quartzitic schist, 

 which seems to be a crushed quartzose conglomerate. 

 The rock when freshly broken appears to be a quartzitic 

 schist of the usual type described below, but weathered 

 surfaces show smooth elongated protuberances stand- 

 ing in relief above the general surface of the rock. The 

 character of these weathered surfaces is thus entirely 

 similar to that of the schistose conglomerate of Goat 

 Island, near Ulverstone. And the rock would appear to 

 be a true conglomerate, the nature of which is not at 

 first sight obvious, on account of the similarity of com- 

 position between the original pebbles and interstitial 

 sand, and the consequent like alteration of coarser and 

 finer ingredients by secondary processes. 



In several other places within the observed limits of 

 the Pre-Cambrian the writer has observed rocks which 

 he regards as conglomerates, the original characters of 

 which are masked by an intimate impregnation with 

 siFca. They now appear as dense quartzites, showing 

 slight variations of colour and texture in the several 

 portions of the same rock mass. These portions, which 

 thus differ inter se, exhibit semi-rounded to subangular 

 outlines. 



With these crushed and altered sediments of coarser 

 grain are associated a great variety of schists and 



