Jenkins — Geology of Victoria, 56.7 



remarkable for yielding, perhaps, the finext examples of Cyprosa 

 which occur in the fossil state. The fossils from this bed present a 

 very striking contrast to those from the eastern side of the River 

 Gellibrand in the perfection of their preservation. 



The author tlien described some small sections still further west, 

 and afterwards the strata on the western side of Port Philip Bay, at 

 Fyansford, about four miles west of Geelong, whence fossils have 

 been obtained from a section exposed in the cliff on the right bank 

 of the river Barwon. 



A little west of Geelong, and close to the shore, the cliffs exhibit 

 Miocene strata, which have been correlated by the geological sur- 

 veyors with the upper part of the Spring Creek series, further to the 

 south, where a very extensive succession of beds has been made out, 

 extending from the mouth of Spring Creek to the Bird Eock, and 

 presenting a total thickness of about 280 feet. 



On the eastern shore of Port Philip Bay the series is even more 

 diversified. It is also of peculiar interest, as Professor M'Coy re- 

 gards certain of the strata on this side, near Mount Eliza, at Schnap- 

 per Point, as belonging to the upper Eocene period ; but it is ex- 

 tremely difficult to decide what characters would entitle an Austra- 

 lian deposit to be regarded as Eocene. Nummulites have not yet 

 come under the author's observation, and the shells appear to have 

 too recent a facies for an Eocene fauna, although some of the volutes 

 do recall the species of our Bracklesham beds, and those of the 

 German Oligocene deposits. 



Mordialloc, about fifteen miles north of Schnapper Point, is of 

 interest on account of a boring for an Artesian well having been 

 sunk there to a depth of 240 feet, the basalt which underlies the 

 strata of that district having been struck at a depth of 235 feet. 

 From the sandstone cliff north of Mordialloc, fossils have been 

 obtained which, though badly preserved, are evidently of more 

 recent date than those from the beds near Mount Eliza ; indeed they 

 are mapped as Lower Pliocene by the Geological Survey of Yictoria. 

 The beds exposed do not exceed 18 feet in thickness. 



The fossils from these various deposits yield nothing either in 

 numbers or in beauty of preservation to those of the London or Paris 

 basins ; but until they have been carefully worked out, and their 

 affinities properly determined, it is extremely hazardous to venture 

 on any opinion as to the age of the strata from which they have been 

 obtained. That there are several horizons is at once evident, and 

 that some of the assemblages of fossils from different localities are 

 contemporaneous is extremely probable. For instance, the deposit 

 near the Sherbrook river, which has yielded the Trigonia of recent 

 type (T. Lamarckii), is probably referable to the same horizon as 

 the Mordialloc deposits, which are characterised by the same form of 

 Trigonia, and which have been mapped by the geological surveyors 

 as Lower Pliocene. 



