1866.] KEENE AXISTEALIAN CANNEL. 437 



rous series ; for we are informed that it rests on a bed of fire-clay full 

 of Stigmaria, and is surmounted by shale and ironstone with plants 

 and shells (Anthracosia). Sir Eoderick Murchison likewise states 

 that in the Silurian rocks of Eussia there are shales yielding 25 per 

 cent, of bitumen and a considerable portion of inflammable gas, 

 and in America solid bitumen is found in the lowest fossiliferous 

 rocks. 



I am looking for, but have as yet seen no signs of, a petroleum- 

 spring. In a geological report to the State of New York, on the 

 Seneca oil-spring the Government geologist observes, " There is no 

 necessary connexion between oil-springs and beds of coal." 



Both in proceeding to and in returning from Liverpool Plains, I 

 made some deviations from the road, where objects appeared to offer 

 matters of interest. 



Rix's Creek is the most northern colliery in work — opened by 

 my recommendation on my fkst examination of it. I descended 

 to the workings ; and it was satisfactory to me to learn that the coal 

 is much approved of. In every locality as I went onwards, desires 

 were expressed to me that workable seams might be found ; and the 

 Bix's Creek Coal is actually carted as far as Aberdeen, a distance of 

 thirty miles. I pointed out that coal may be got near the chain of 

 ponds close to the railway ; and at Muswelbrook the cutting near the 

 town has gone through a seam of coal which, though cropping out 

 at a high angle, will no doubt be worked until further discoveries 

 are made. 



At Scone, near the Kingdom Ponds, the plain is strewed with 

 fossil wood ; and the rooted trunks of large fossil trees rising from 

 the ground look as though they were still in their places of growth ; 

 whilst a natural section in the bank of the creek or pond close by, 

 bordering the estate of the Honourable the Secretary for Lands, 

 shows the outcrop of the coal-seam rising from below, and regu- 

 larly covered by the fossil- bed. 



In examining attentively the stratum of these fossil trees, I per- 

 ceived signs of a marine deposit ; and it became a question which of 

 the two was the older, the forest or the sea-bottom. This was 

 soon solved — a block of coral built upon and into the fossil wood 

 proved unmistakeably that the forest and the coal beneath are both 

 more ancient than the marine fossils covering them. This evidence, 

 in conjunction with that which I am obtaining from the workings at 

 Dalwood Creek, will set at rest the controversy as to the age of the 

 Carboniferous deposits of New South Wales. 



About seven miles from Scone, on the left bank of the river 

 Page, a limestone is Avorked, which I followed for a couple of miles, 

 to where the beds are laid bare over a large surface. I procured 

 specimens, which show it to be a rich oolitic limestone. Eluding it 

 to be encased as it were in a clay or impure limestone, I am not 

 without hope that some of the beds may be found to be of the pro- 

 portion of clay and lime which makes cement, and I have given in- 

 structions for portions of these rocks to be sent to me for experiment. 

 I found a bed of calcareous rock near Singleton and a band of clay 



