GEOLOGY. 125 



have abandoned this view in favour of an seolian origin. The equal and 

 minute size, and the complete rounding of the particles ; the abundance of 

 bird bones and land shells, with the more or less perfect preservation of the 

 latter ; and the occurrence of turtle-eggs, is strong confirmatory evidence. 

 Under the influence of wind far more friction takes place than when small 

 particles are triturated in water, and their edges become rounded to a much 

 greater degree, giving rise to the appearance presented by the Coral- sand rock 

 of Lord Howe. The occurrence of such fossils as the above in a similar deposit 

 at St. Helena caused Darwin to ascribe a like origin to it.* On the other 

 hand, marine shells were not frequently observed in the Lord Howe rock, 

 but when present were well preserved, and in some traces of colour were still 

 apparent. The presence of turtle-eggs, although not found in nests as 

 described by Jukes on the islets of the Great Barrier, may still be taken as 

 evidence tending in the same direction ; and equally so is the palm impres- 

 sion seen by Mr. Fitzgerald, who says : "In the inclined stratified coral, in 

 one place, very distinct impressions were observed of palm-leaves 10 or 15 

 feet long."t 



Irregular stratification, and false bedding^ were not observed, although it 

 is often asserted that they are features in seolian rocks ; but they are as 

 often seen in aqueous sediments, the result of ever-changing currents. 

 Indeed, it is not imperative that false bedding should be present, because 

 Professor H. N. Mosely mentions the entire absence of it in the calcareous 

 sand-rock at Eaine Island. § He says : — The deposit is " closely similar to 

 that at Bermuda, except that it is remarkably evenly bedded." It would have 

 been much more satisfactory could I have adduced evidence of one of those 

 temporary growth stages of vegetation sometimes met with in aeolian deposits, 

 and represented by beds of lignite, or some form of carbonaceous matter. Mr. 

 C. S. Wilkinson has described one in the consolidated sand dunes between 

 the Parker River and Cape Otway, Victoria. || Another instance is recorded 

 by Mosely as seen at Bermuda in a dockyard excavation, where a bed of 

 lignite occurs forty feet below sea-level in the sand rock of the island.*[ 

 And lastly, Tenison Woods records an excellent case in connection with 

 the Wide Bay sand hills. ** ISo such instances as these have been seen at 

 Lord Howe, although it is not impossible they may occur. 



The balance of evidence may, I think, be said to weigh in favour of the aeolian 

 origin of theLord Howe Coral-sand rock; anditis remarkable how wellDana's 

 descriptionft of deposits termed by him " Drift Sand-Bock " tallies with it. 

 " Still another kind of beach formation is going on in some regions through 

 the agency of the winds in connection with the sea * * * and proceeds 

 from the drifting of the sand into hillocks, or ridges, by the winds. The 

 drifts resemble ordinary sand drifts, and are often quite as extensive 

 * * * These sand-banks, through the agency of infiltrating waters, fresh 

 or salt, become cemented into a sand-rock, more or less friable, which is 

 frequently oolitic. The rock consists of thin layers or lamina?, which are 

 very distinct, and indicate, generally, every successive drift of sand which 

 puffs of wind had added in the course of its formation." As regards the 

 height to which the Coral-sand rock extends, it in no way exceeds the known 



* Geol. Ob3. Yolc. Islands, 1884, p. 88. 

 t Hill's Lord Howe Island, loc. cit. p. 44. 



X The dip, although variable, is too steady over considerable areas to represent this. 

 § Notes of a Naturalistic., 1879, p. 347. 



|| Beport on the Geology of the Cape Otway District. Keport of the Director, Geol. 

 Survey Vict., June, 1863— Sept. 1864. [18C4— 65], p. 25. 



f Notes, loc. cit., p. 21. ** Jour. R. Soc, N. S. Wales, 1882, xvi, p. 60. 



ft Corals and Coral Islands, loc. cit., p. 154. 



