36 Geological Relations of the 



been made by himself. And, whatever be his determination 

 as to the age of these fossils, I cannot but express my thanks 

 publicly to him for undertaking the inspection of them. 



Should they eventually be found to occupy a position in 

 any Wianamatta or Hawkesbury rocks, then, of course, an 

 alteration must be made in that part of the series which I 

 now consider to be persistent. But the fact still insisted on, 

 that the genera, chiefly distinctive of the age of the New- 

 castle coal, viz., Glossopteris, Phyllotheca, &c, are found in 

 beds interpolated between those ranked with the base of the 

 old " Carboniferous system," cannot be so disposed of. At 

 the time of writing this, being in ignorance of the epoch to 

 which Professor M'Coy eventually assigns the Wollumbilla 

 fossils, I can add no more than that I believe them, from a]l 

 the information I possess, to be above the horizon of the 

 New South Wales coal along the coast. I have only been 

 informed that he considers they are "probably Triassic." If 

 so, I can understand their influence upon previous opinions, 

 and shall be ready to arrange the coal-bearing rocks in con- 

 sonance with such evidence as they may supply. The New 

 South Wales series admits of certain divisions, which I have 

 marked in my present arrangement, there can be no 

 difficulty, therefore, on that head. And should further 

 investigations, which I have done my best to institute, cause 

 me to modify the views which I have hitherto entertained, 

 in accordance with the fresh light now coming upon us, I 

 shall be quite satisfied with having been the chief agent in 

 the discovery of the data upon which much of the history of 

 the Carboniferous rocks of Australia depends. 



Seeing, that in New Zealand Dr. Hochestetter discovered 

 Permian fossils, and a formation which Viscount d'Archiac 

 considers may be "Oxfordian,"* having also examined 

 reptilian remains from that country, which appear to me to 

 be as high up as the base of the Cretaceous system (viz., 

 vertebras,-)* which much resembled those of Plesiosaurus 

 pachyomus), and recollecting that Mr. Mantell had already 

 determined the existence of Cretaceous rocks in the district 

 from which the reptile comes ; further, learning that in 

 New Guinea J a portion of the Jurassic formation has been 



* Progres de la Geologic Tom. VIII. 

 t I forwarded a cast of these to the President at the time. 

 J See "Contributions to the Knowledge of New Guinea." By Dr. Solomon 

 Mliller. Journal Roy. Geogr. Soc., vol. xxviii., p. 268. 



