BY FRITZ NOETLING, M.A., Ph.D., ETC. 163 



colour. This sandstone is rather calcareous, and pretty 

 hard. The most common fossil is a small Curritella, 

 which has been called T. Warbartonii, and from which 

 ihe whole series has appropriately been called Turritella 

 sandstone. The fossils, which are exactly the same as 

 those occurring in the Crassatella-bed, are more sparsely 

 •distributed, but now and then they occur in heaps, just 

 as we find them along our shores at the present day. 



Besides these marine fossils leaves of terrestrial 

 plants in particular Sapotacites oligoneuris, Etting. and 

 others were found (i), but the most interesting is a 

 nearly complete skeleton of the marsupial Wynyardia 

 T^assiana Spencer (2). It may perhaps seem somewhat 

 surprising to find the remains of terrestrial plants and 

 animals in marine deposits, but a little consideration will 

 show that this is not surprising" at all. In fact, it would 

 ~he more surprising if these remains had not been found. 

 The Turritella-sandstone represents a typical deposit 

 formed along the beach, where the land was not far 

 away; leaves from the trees growing close by were fre- 

 •quently blown into the water, and the strand was 

 also frequently visited by animals (3), whose remains 

 became now and then embedded in the sandstone. 



The Turritella-sandstone dips slightly towards west, 

 -and the higher beds, which are inaccessible at Freestone 

 Bluff, descend more and more towards the sea level the 

 further we move towards west. 



I am unable to say whether a subdivision of the 

 Turritella-sandstone is possible or not. If we distinguish 

 the Crassatella-bed as a special palaeontological horizon, 

 we must of course distinguish the strata above and 

 (below it. It will perhaps be possible to establish a cer- 

 tain subdivision, particularly if it could be proved that 

 the terrestrial remains occur only in the upper portions, 

 but a good deal of work remains still to be done before 

 we can sav something definite. 



(i) Pap. and Proceed. Ro3^al Soc. Tasmania, 1886, pag. xx. 



(2) Proceed. Zoolog. Soc, London, 1900, pag. 776-795. 



(3) At the mouth of the Ringarooma River I noticed nume- 

 Tous tracks of the native cat (Dasyurus viverrinus) among the 

 sand dunes and along the beach, showing that this animal is in 

 the habit of frequenting the sea shore. 



