260 DE. H. HICKS ON THE MOETE SLATES, AND [May 1 89 6, 



the Morte Slates, are characterized by containing angular bits of 

 slate, angular and subangular quartz often stained of a red or 

 chocolate colour, and frequently a considerable amount of a fresh- 

 looking felspar. The sandstones and shales also contain an unusual 

 proportion of detrital mica. When it is remembered that these 

 beds often yield fossil wood, and are frequently ripple-marked, it 

 becomes clear that they were deposited under different conditions 

 from those which prevailed when the majority of the Morte Slates 

 were thrown down, and the evidence certainly points to an 

 important physical change taking place at no great distance about 

 this time. 



I have not met with any contemporaneous igneous rocks in the 

 Morte Series, but there are a few intrusive dykes, one of the 

 most important being the felsite at Bittadon described by Prof. 

 Bonney. 1 Others have been referred to by Mr. Etheridge and 

 Mr. Townshend Hall in Morte Bay, Lee Bay, etc. 



The Morte Slates in this area yield traces of fossils in many 

 places, but none sufficiently well-preserved for identification, 

 excepting in the cliff-sections at Morthoe and Woolacombe. The 

 first fossil found by me was a Lingula at Woolacombe in 1890 ; 

 but since then several additional genera have been discovered at 



Fig. 1. — Section from near Morthoe to Woolacombe. 



above 

 Crunta Beach 



Woolacombe 

 Sands 



[Horizontal Scale : 6 inches = 1 mile.] 

 \ = positions of fossil zones. 



Barricane, and in the cliffs at a small creek between Barricane and 

 Crunta Point. They include a Rhynchonella, so like Eh. Lewhii 

 of the Wenlock rocks that I have no doubt of its being the same 

 species ; a small Spirifer with a very wide mesial fold and some- 

 what rough ribs, unlike any British species known to me ; and 

 Orthis rustica, Modiolopsis, encrinites, etc. 



1 Geol. Mag. 1878, p. 207. 



