THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. II. 



No. VIII.— AUGUST, 1875. 



O^IO-HEsT^-I, AETICLES. 



I. — On " Tasmanite " and Australian " White Coal." 

 By E. T. Newton, F.G.S., 

 Assistant Naturalist, H.M. Geological Survey. 

 (PLATE X.) 



THE two substances known as "Tasmanite" and Australian 

 "White Coal," which are the subject of the present communi- 

 cation, have a special interest for the geologist on account of the 

 light which they throw upon the microscopic structure and com- 

 position of many Coals. My attention was first directed to them 

 when collecting materials for Professor Huxley's examination into 

 the microscopic structure of Coal. My esteemed colleague, Mr. 

 Etheridge, at that time gave me a specimen of brown laminated 

 substance, labelled " Lignite, the so-called White Coal, Australia," 

 and drew my attention to the fact that it was very largely composed 

 of small seed-like bodies, very similar to, although smaller than, the 

 macrospores 1 of Flemingites, which are to be seen in many kinds 

 of British Coal. A specimen of this same kind of White Coal is in 

 the Museum of Practical Geology, and is labelled, " Bituminous Shale 

 (locally called White Coal), New South Wales, Australia." I have 

 likewise been able to examine the specimen of Tasmanite also in this 

 Museum, which is labelled " Tasmanite ; combustible matter from 

 the river Mersey on the north side of Tasmania ; stratum of unknown 

 thickness, but known to extend for some miles. Presented by Sir 

 Wm. Denison." These specimens are very similar in appearance 

 and structure, but the White Coal is softer than the Tasmanite. 

 Chemical analyses of Tasmanite have been published, but I am not 

 aware of any satisfactory account of its microscopic structure. The 

 only mention of Australian White Coal with which I am acquainted 

 is that in Prof. Huxley's lecture on "On the Formation of Coal" 

 ("Contemporary Beview," Nov. 1870). And there is a figure, of a 

 section and some separated spores, given by Sir C Lyell in the 

 2nd edition of his Student's Elements of Geology, 1874. 



The general appearance of the combustible schist, which is now 

 generally known as Tasmanite, is thus described by Mr. J. Milligan, 



1 The bodies existing in Coals which have usually been termed Sporangia and 

 Spores have been shown by Prof. Williamson to be Macrospores and Microspores. I 

 believe both Professor Huxley and Mr. Carruthers are prepared to accept this 

 determination. 



DECADE II. — VOL. II. NO. VIII. 22 



