. - Of a Country on the Climate. 221 
things, cannot be despised with impunity; and, whether we 
consider the effects of its teachings in the abstract, or as 
applied to practical labours, we are equally persuaded of its 
high importance. 
It will soon be necessary to supply the towns near the 
gold-fields with water sufficient for machinery and sanitary 
urposes, and therefore minute observations in meteorology 
in all these localities, have become of greater importance than 
ever.* If commenced at once they may be the means of 
preventing endless disputes, and possibly saving a large 
expenditure of public money. 
I have the honour to be, Sir, 
Your most obedient, humble servant, 
R. BroucH SMyrTu. 
Capt. Clarke, R.E., M.L.C., 
President of the Philosophical Society of Victoria, 
&e. &e. &e. 
Art. XVIL—A Description of Fossil Animalcule in Primi- 
tive Rocks from the Upper Yarra District. By WILLIAM 
Bianpowskl, Esa. 
I wave the honour to lay before the members of the Philo- 
sophical Society, a few specimens of rocks, containing minute 
fossil remains, forwarded to the Society through me, by 
Fred. Acheson, Esq.; having been discovered by that gen- 
tleman, on the left bank of Anderson’s Creek, about a mile 
from the junction of that stream with the Yarra Yarra. 
These specimens were procured from a vein about fifteen 
inches in: thickness, inclosed between layers of hard blue slate, 
inclined at an angle of 75 degrees southward. They are 
chiefly composed of coarse porous quartz, but those speci- 
mens procured from larger blocks, or at a greater depth, are 
dense and of a blue colour. In this state the rock assumes 
a crystalline appearance, much resembling marble, and is 
dotted with numerous specks of iron pyrites, which, becoming 
decomposed by the action of the atmosphere, result in the 
* Since writing the above, I learn that Captain Clarke is about to establish 
a system of Meteorological Observations, at the various Survey Offices through- 
out the Colony, in connexion with the Observatory already established in Mel- 
bourne. This is a step in the right direction ; such observations can be con- 
ducted inexpensively, and with much accuracy, without any large sacrifice of 
time on the part of the observers. j 
