278 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 24, 



A single shell (TelUna) found in a bed of horizontal limestone at 

 the head of the Gregory on the Barkly Tableland and forwarded to 

 me by the Eev. W. B. Clarke, of Sydney, would, if belonging to this 

 series, as it probably does, give reason to believe that the lacustrine 

 condition may be eliminated. 



What may be the value of this Desert Sandstone for free gold is at 

 present unsolved; but the very )iature of its deposition seems to 

 preclude the idea that that metal will be found in paying quanti- 

 ties, except where direct local abrasion of a rich auriferous veinstone 

 has furnished the supply. 



It is indeed doubtful if any marine or extensive lacustrine beds, 

 except on their shingle margins, have produced, or are ever likely to 

 produce, remunerative workings of free gold, for the simple reason 

 that the majority of the sediments of which they are composed are 

 derived from formations the greater part of which Vv^ere non-auriferous. 



Mesozoic. 



Cretaceous. — As early as 1866 a suite of fossils was collected by 

 Messrs. Sutherland and Carson (of Marathon Station) on the Flinders 

 river, and forwarded for determination to Professor M'Coy in Mel- 

 bourne. They were never figured ; but his manuscript names are as 

 follows : — 



Eeptilia. 



Ichthyosaurus australis, M'Coj/. 



Plesiosaurus Sutberlandi, M'Coy (allied to that from New Zealand, described 

 by Professor Owen). 



Plesiosaurus macrospondylus, M'Coy. 



Cephalopoda. 

 Ammonites Sutberlandi, M'Coy (resembling A. Baraoidicri, of the Gault of 



France), 

 Ammonites Flindersi, M'Coy (resembling A. Beuckcnti, Br., of the Lower 



Chalk of France). 

 Belemnitella diptycha, M'Coy (resembling B. plena, of the Lower Cretaceous 



beds of England). 

 Ancyloceras Flindersi, M'Coy (equalling A. gigas, of the Lower Green.sand in 



size, but more nearly resembling in structure the A. FaboreUi of the Lower 



Greensand of France). 



LAMEIiLIBRANCrilATA. 



Inoccramus Carsoni, M'Coy (resembling the /. myfiloides, Sow., of the Chalk 



of England). 

 Inoceranius Sutberlandi, M'Coy (identical with the English species /. Cuvieri). 



One locality being assigned to all the fossils alluded to in the 

 above notice, it was evident to me that either fossils from different 

 localities had been mixed together, or derived s^^ecimens had been 

 mingled with those obtained in situ, and no satisfactor}^ conclusion 

 or inference could be drawn for purposes of correlation with Euro- 

 pean, Asiatic, American, or African forms. In company with Mr. 

 Sutherland, who supplied M'Coy with the before-mentioned ma- 

 terials, I therefore visited the Upper Flinders, and carefully col- 

 lected the fossils from three localities, viz. Marathon Station, Hugh- 

 enden Station, and Hughenden Cattle Station. 



