Oil the New Coal Measures, dec. 247 



under any other circumstances, the opinion of a tribe 

 so unintelligent as the New Holland aborigines is not 

 deserving of any attention, it is still of some importance 

 ■when it tallies with the conclusion to which I think the 

 chemical examination leads us. Entomologists to whom 

 this substance has been shown are of a different opinion ; and 

 Mr. Newport, to whom specimens were sent, has gone so far 

 as to establish, on the strength of it, an entirely new genus 

 of insects, to which he has given the name oi Asjrisarcus, 

 from asj)is, a shield, and arcus, a net.* The consideration 

 of this point, however, must be left to those who are more 

 competent than I am to form an opinion. I have confined 

 myself to determining its constitution, which appears to me 

 altogether at variance with the idea of its being a simple 

 exudation consequent upon the puncture of an insect. 



XX. 



On the Coal Measures along the Coast between Western 

 Port and Cape Liptraj), in the Colony of Port Phillip. 

 By G. H. Wathen, Esq., Mining Engineer. 



Having recently returned from an examination of the coast 

 from Western Port to Cape Liptrap, with reference to the 

 future working of coal in that district, I beg to make the 

 following statement of facts for the guidance of those 

 interested in the matter. 



It has long been known that coal existed on this coast. 

 More than once operations have been undertaken for mining 

 it ; but these, having been ill-devised and ill-directed, were 

 successively abandoned. 



* Professor Balfour, in his Manual of Botany, p. 412, says: "A saccharine 

 substance, mixed with cellular hairs, which arise from a cup-like body, has been 

 sent to this country by Mr. Cay, found upon the leaves of Eucalyptus dumosa. 

 It is called Layurp by the natives, and is thought by Mr. Newport to be the 

 produce of an insect of the tribe Coccidae." — Editor Phil. .Journal. 



