50 Cretaceous Fossils in Australia. 



with any cretaceous forms, by the officers of the Geological 

 Society, in whose list they are quoted, not as cretaceous but 

 only as mesozoic. Mr. Selwyn also alluded formerly to a 

 specimen of an Echinide in flint, given to him as found in 

 gravel in sinking a well at Prahran, near Melbourne, having 

 been identified by Professor M'Coy as the European Cre- 

 taceous Gonulus alhogalerus. The author had also a flint 

 Ananchytes ovatus, of the same age, given to him as found 

 at Richmond, near Melbourne also ; but he considered both 

 these specimens were unsatisfactory, as far as the proof of 

 their having really belonged to any Australian stratum. 

 The present collection of fossils, though small, indicated the^^^ 

 existence of the Lower Chalk, as developed in England andflB 

 Germany, and this discovery nearly fills up the great series 

 of marine mesozoic formations supposed to be absent in 

 Australia when Professor M'Coy left Europe, but most of 

 which he had recognised from fossil evidence since his 

 arrival in Victoria, and made known at a former meeting of 

 this Society. 



The following are the three most interesting of the new 

 species of moUusca : — 



Inoceramus Carsoni (M'Coy). 



This is the most common of the bivalves. It has a 

 coarsely fibrous shell, nearly a quarter of an inch thick, 

 agreeing in size and shape almost exactly with the English 

 Inoceramus mytiloides (Sow.) of the English chalk, from 

 which it differs in having the hinge-line rather longer, the 

 anterior end more pointed, and the superior posterior angle 

 rather more obtuse. This species Professor M'Coy named 

 in honour of the enthusiastic young geologist who brought 

 it down. 



Inoceramus Sutherlandi (M'Coy.) 



This is the second most common fossil, and is a much 

 larger and broader species than the /. Carsoni (M'Coy). 

 The author had much pleasure in naming it after the 

 other doiior of the specimens, which were so painfully 

 carried, from the remote point indicated, to the settled 

 districts, on their saddles. This second species, in form, size, 

 and concentric undulations of the surface, nearly agrees with 

 the French and English common cretaceous /. Cuvieri, but 

 is less curved at the ventral margin near the beak, and 

 rather narrower and more acute at the anterior end. 



