1847.] CLARKE ON TRILOBITES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 63 
the above facts, and not to discuss them, with reference to various 
topics suggested, I shall conclude with a few general remarks. 
It is certain the same genera of plants that were characteristic of 
the carboniferous epoch of Europe, prevail in the Australian forma- 
tions ; and though the species are different, they are not more so than 
might be expected at the antipodes of Europe. 
It is also certain that the greater part of the matrix of these 
Australian plants is derived from granite, and that one of the most 
prominent genera still delights m the lofty summits of granite rocks. 
We also find, in the undoubted traces of gigantic forests, and the 
profuse vegetation of fern-bearing soils, mterpolated beds full of 
marine mollusca, conchifera, and zoophytes ; the latter imbedded in 
mud and shingly grits, which bear undoubted evidence of their 
igneous character. 
We find also, that there is a gradual passage from a fauna, usually 
supposed to belong to the lowest carboniferous beds of Europe, to 
one still lower in the geological scale, m which, in Europe, no true 
coal beds have been discovered. 
And if we adopt the view long ago presented to my mind, that 
the Australian system is the equivalent of the Devonian, or embraces 
that and the European carboniferous formation together*, we shall 
still be met with the fact only meidentally mentioned in this paper, 
that Silurian forms are mingled in abundance with a flora supposed 
to be younger; and therefore it is impossible to class the Australian 
series exactly m a parallel with any of the European formations, but 
only to consider it with Mr. Jukes}, as the representative “of the 
Silurian and Devonian rocks, including the carboniferous system of 
England, in one uninterrupted and conformable series of deposits.”’ 
Whatever conclusion we adopt, this is undoubted, that the Au- 
stralian carboniferous deposits have nothing in common, save one or 
two rare species of plants, with the jurassic system, but have an 
antiquity in part greater than that of the European coal-fields. 
8. On the occurrence of TRiLOBITES in New SouTH WALES, with 
remarks on the probable age of the formation in which they occur. 
By the Rev. W. B. Cuarxe, M.A., F.G.S. 
Tue only notices hitherto published respecting the occurrence of 
Trilobites in New South Wales are those given in Strzelecki’s < Phy- 
sical Description’ of that colony and Van Diemen’s Land, and a 
brief mention made by myself in the ‘Sydney Herald’ long previous 
to the publication of that work. 
The announcement made in the ‘ Physical Description’ has refer- 
ence to “ small oblong impressions resembling Trilobites, not exceed- 
ing half an inch, and which are to be met with in Yass plains and 
the Boree country, New South Wales, associated with Favosites 
* Physical Description, &c., p. 296. t+ Tasmanian Journal, vol. i. p. 11. 
