52 



stones are exceptionally open in their texture. The gas 

 spaces (over and above the usual small, elongated spaces which 

 give pumice its characteristic features) are often large, 

 measuring from 1 to 3 \ in. in length and up to \ to 1 in. in 

 transverse diameter, giving the stone a particularly light and 

 open appearance. These are useful features for comparison, 

 and now that attention has been called to this subject, it is 

 hoped that observers will be on the look out for further 

 evidences that may be of interest bearing on this subject. 



SCORIACEOUS LAVA. 



The specimen forwarded to me by Mr. Payne is black- 

 coloured, glassy, very open in texture, with numerous rounded 

 gas vesicles, identical in appearance with the scoriaceous lava 

 of Mount Gambier and Mount Schank. Mr. Payne picked up 

 examples of this kind on the beach both on the northern and 

 southern sides of Cape Banks, and states that "the largest 

 piece was about the size of an ordinary loaf of bread." The 

 sea has washed the bases of the volcanic vents in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Millicent since these volcanoes were in eruption, 

 but there is nothing to indicate that these scoriae were actually 

 derived from this source. There are igneous rocks on the 

 Victorian coast, a little beyond the South Australian border, 

 and it is possible that the specimens may have come from that 

 direction ; if so, it would be a further evidence of an occasional 

 westerly drift along the coast. 



ASPHALTUM (BITUMEN). 



This substance has a very wide distribution along the 

 southern coast of Australia, extending from Tasmania on the 

 one side to near Bunbury, in Western Australia, on the other. 

 A typical specimen was included in the beach specimens 

 forwarded by Mr. Payne. It is an angular fragment, 5 in. 

 in long diameter, with the usual pitch-like lustre, and is in 

 all respects similar to many others that have been noted and 

 described, and frequently raised delusive hopes as to a local 

 occurrence of mineral oil( 8) in the vicinity where these frag- 

 ments have been found. The specimens that have been 

 obtained over this very wide area possess very uniform 

 characteristics, which make it probable that they have had 

 a common origin. Dr. Wade has said/ 9 ) "I am firmly 



(8) See L. Keith Ward: "The Possibilities of the Discovery 

 of Petroleum on, Kangaroo Island and the Western Coast of Evre 

 Peninsula," Geol. Sur. S. Austr., Bull. No. 2, 1913, p. 13. Also 

 Dr. Arthur Wade: "'The Supposed Oil-bearing Areas of South 

 Australia," Geol. Sur. S. Austr., Bull. No. 4, 1915, p. 33. 



(9) Loc. cit., p. 34. 



