BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S, 197 



very wide distribution of this rich soil-maker from nearly 

 all parts of Tasmania, particularly in the plains about 

 Campbell Town, Fingal, Avoca, Piper's River, Myrtle 

 Bank, Ringarooma, Deloraine, George Town, Torquay, 

 Flinders' Island, Lake St. Clair, Mount BischofF, Middle- 

 sex Plains, Cattley Plains, &c,, in all which places it forms 

 the rich chocolate soil of the district, and in auriferous and 

 stanniferous regions it frequently overspreads the older 

 auriferous and stanniferous drifts. 



Through the praiseworthy labours of Professor Ralph 

 Tate, Professor Hutton, R. Etheridge, Jun., R. L, Jack, 

 S. H. Wilkinson, F. A. Krause, Rev. J. E. Tenison- 

 Woods, S. H. Wintle, R. A. F. Murray, A. W. Howitt,' 

 Norman Taylor, Daintree, Thureau, Brough Smythe, and 

 other Australian geologists, abundant materials for the 

 determination of the Tertiary beds have been gathered 

 together, and, recently, in the hands of the leading palaeon- 

 tologists they have yielded important results. From the 

 writings of the gentlemen named we may learn that the 

 extensive fluviatile and lacustrine formations in Australia, 

 particularly at Haddon, Bacchus Marsh, Malmsbury, 

 Daylesford, Werribee, Beechworth, Tangii River, Gui- 

 gong, Richmond River, Orange River, and in the Darling- 

 Downs, Queensland, are the equivalents of similar deposits 

 in Tasmania at Beaconsfield, Nine-Mile Springs, Muddy 

 Creek, Tamar, Breadalbane, Avoca, included within my 

 definition of the Launceston Tertiary Basin, and also of 

 the yellow limestone of Geilston Bay, Hobart, and similar 

 deposits elsewhere in various parts of the Island. These 

 freshwater deposits are undoubtedly of vast extent and of 

 great thickness. The relations of the isolated though 

 closely related groups of beds cannot be definitely ascer- 

 tained, nor, when we take into consideration existing 

 distribution of particular vegetable and animal forms, can 

 we hope to draw satisfactory conclusions in regard to their 

 exact sequence. The preponderance of proteaceous forms 

 in one locality, or of coniferous remains in another, gives 

 no clue to chronological sequence. It may only indicate 

 the existence of varied forms of contemporaneous vege- 

 table life under, perhaps, slightly altered circumstances as 

 regards area, soil, or altitude. 



No better conception of the restriction of particular 

 forms to certain areas can be had than from a glance at 



