198 TERTIARY ROCKS Or ACJSTRALASIA, 



the distribution of certain forms of the existing flora and 

 fauna, e.g., Fagus Cunninghami, Frenela Ausiralis, Ano- 

 dopetalum biglandulosum, Arthrotaxis cupressiformis. 

 Acacia dealbata, Eucalyptus globulus, Hanksiu serrata ; 

 and Helix Launcestonensis, H. antialba, H. Weldii, H. 

 Pictilis, H. Bischoffensis, H. lampra, and Bulimus Tas- 

 manicus. The remarkable restriction of these examples 

 affords striking illustrations of localization. With respect 

 to land and freshwater contemporaneous remains, too, we 

 ought to expect greater local differences in separate areas 

 than in more widely separated contemporaneous areas of 

 marine formations. 



In summing the general features of the Palceogene 

 period in Tasmania, the author was much struck with 

 their resemblance to the general features of the Lower 

 Miocene of France as described by Lyell. In respect of 

 these he remarks^ : — 



" Lacustrine strata, belonging for the most part to the 

 same Miocene system, as Calcaire de la Beauce, are again 

 met with further south in Auvergne, Cantal, and Velay. 

 They appear to be the monuments of ancient lakes, which, 

 like some of those now existing in Switzerland, once 

 occupied the depressions in a mountainous region, and 

 have been each fed by one or more rivers and torrents. 



" The country where they occur is almost entirely com- 

 posed of granite and different varieties of granitic schist, 

 with here and there a few patches of secondary strata 

 much dislocated, and which have suffered great denuda- 

 tion. There are also some vast piles of volcanic matter, 

 the greater part of which is newer than the freshwater 

 strata, and is sometimes seen to rest upon them, while 

 a small part has evidently been of contemporaneous 

 origin. . . 



" The study of these regions possess a peculiar interest, 

 very distinct in kind from that derivable from the investi- 

 gation either of the Parisian or English tertiary areas. For 

 we are presented in Auvergne with the evidence of a series 

 of events of astonishing magnitude and grandeur, by which 

 the original form and features of the country have been 

 greatly changed, yet never so far obliterated but that they 

 may still, in part at least, be restored in imagination. 



» Elements of Geology, 1871, pp. 20C-207. 



