Aet. II. — On some Tertiary Fossils in South Australia. 

 By the Rev. Julian E. Woods, F. G. S., &c, &c. Penola, 



S.A. 



[Read 27th May, 1861.] 



I have frequently had occasion to describe to the Society 

 certain rocks which appear at Mount Gambier, and the South 

 Eastern district generally. I now wish to draw attention to 

 the fossils contained in them. The stone, as I before men- 

 tioned, is a mass of organic remains, but these are either so 

 finely comminuted, or of so small a size, that it looks like a 

 compact freestone. The fossils are principally Bryozoa, and 

 Foraminifera, enclosed hi a calcareous cement. 



The resemblance of the formation to the Lower Craof de- 

 posit is very striking, and an examination of the imbedded 

 fragments shows a positive identity. It is to the considera- 

 tion of the fossils which form the basis of resemblance 

 between the two formations, that I have principally ad- 

 dressed myself in my investigations, part of which form the 

 subject of the present paper. 



On seeing the mass of minute beings matted together in 

 the stone, and representing almost every variety of shape 

 and form ; and on noticing how in the thousands of specimens 

 composing a cubic inch of rock, not two of the little brarjch- 

 lets are alike, all being more or less broken, it would seem 

 almost impossible to draw order out of this confusion, and 

 give a family and specific name to every individual. 



It is, indeed, a matter of no small difficulty. Fortunately 

 the classification of the Polyzoa has made great progress 

 lately ; not a single twig of the little stony shrubs with 

 which the formation teems, but can be named, and its 

 affinities described. 



Though the Polyzoa at all times possess no ordinary inte- 

 rest, yet those of these strata have an especial attraction of 

 their own. It is the last fink in Australian geological his- 

 tory immediately preceding the present state of things. But 

 this is not all. The included fossils differ not only from 

 existing species on the coast, but also almost entirely from 

 every species, and sometimes even genera, previously de- 

 scribed. Out of forty-two specimens sent home to Br. Busk, 

 thirty-six proved to be previously unknown to science. In 

 their general character, and in the genus Cellepora, the beds 



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