288 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



" The descent going eastward is first locally a thin capping of 

 'Desert Sandstone,' next Carboniferous, then Devonian, and possibly 

 Silurian, with patches of metamorphic and granitic rocks interspersed. 



" The chief granitic mass extends from Broad Sound to Cape York, 

 with an occasional capping of ' Desert Sandstone,' " 



The paper contained numerous analyses of the various rocks, and 

 the fossils have been worked out by Messrs. Etheridge and Carruthers, 

 whose lists and descriptions of them are appended to the paper. 



Discussion. — Mr. Etheridge mentioned that, among the fossil MoUusca exhibited 

 from Queensland, there were about eighty species in all, thirty-nine of which were 

 new. About twelve species were also found in the British area, some of them being 

 of common occurrence in both countries. This was especially the case in the Palaeo- 

 zoic rocks, but also prevailed to a considerable extent in those of the Cretaceous 

 period. The same similarity among fossils so widely separated in space was found 

 among the fossil corals of Queensland and those of Europe. It was to be regretted 

 that so many of the fossils are merely casts ; but he still thought that they were 

 capable of being properly figured, and the species determined. 



Mr. Caerutheks had examined the vegetable remains brought over by the author, 

 which were of great importance. Some of those from the Devonian rocks appeared 

 to be identical with species found in North America. From the remains of one of 

 these, which he could not separate from one described by Dr. Dawson, Zepto2}hicema 

 rhombicum, he had been able to reconstruct it in its entirety, of which he exhibited a 

 drawing. The plant was lycopodiaceous, and its remains served to show that er- 

 roneous conclusions had been drawn as to the characters presented by the North 

 American specimens, which had been regarded as having a Sternbergia-'^iih. There 

 were specimens also of Gyclostigma, of the stipes of ferns, and of a doubtful Calamite. 

 With regard to the supposed Glossoptm'is- and T(:dniopteris-e])ochs, which by some 

 had been regarded the one as Palaeozoic and the other as Mesozoic, he was not con- 

 vinced that they could be distinctly separated, but thought rather that they might 

 both belong to different portions of one great period. Systematically the two forms 

 might be very closely related, the venation of the fronds on which the genera are 

 founded occurring in two forms, which by Linnseus had been included in one genus, 

 Acrostichum. He thought that neither was of a date earlier than Permian, 



Mr. Smyth regretted that so many questions were brought forward in the paper 

 that it was almost impossible to follow the whole of them. The connexion of the 

 gold-bearing reefs with the igneous rocks seemed to him very remarkable. It had in 

 former times been suggested that there was some limitation of auriferous deposits to 

 Palaeozoic rocks, and be wished to know whether the author's observations corrobo- 

 rated such a view, which appeared to him problematical. He commented on the 

 value of foreign collections of fossils such as that exhibited, and called attention to 

 the rich stores of that kind preserved in the museum of the Society, which would be 

 found of great assistance by any one studying the geology of Australia. 



Mr. Daintree, in reply, stated that in the West Maitland beds Glossopteris was 

 found distinctly underlying beds containing Spirifera and other distinctly Carbon- 

 iferous species. He had no doubt of Glossopteris being in Queensland a purely 

 paleolithic form. He had been unable to trace any igneous action whatever over the 

 whole of the cretaceous plains to the westward ; and the absence of igneous or 

 metamorphic rocks was further proved by the natives having to obtain the materials 

 for their tomahawks by exchange from those nearer the coast. In the proximity of 

 the dykes he had not found any signs of alteration of structure ; but the occurrence 

 of gold in the Devonian area was, according to his experience, limited to the close 

 neighbourhood of the dykes. 



The Chairman remarked on the Desert Sandstone, and pointed out that, though ap- 

 parently of such importance, the amount of geological time it represented was but 

 small. The changes, however, of which it bore evidence since Miocene times, were 

 enough to strike the mind with astonishment, and to convey some idea of the great 

 variations in the physical features of the surface of the world, even within the period 

 during which possibly the human race had existed. 



