ae ie 
1870. ] DUNCAN—AUSTRALIAN CORALS. 285 
these the Rev. Julian Woods, of Penola, has proved the most dili- 
gent. He sought the paleontological advice of Prof. Busk and 
Prof. Rupert Jones, when he had determined that the cretaceous- 
looking beds were of tertiary age, and forwarded communications to 
this Society (Quart. Journ. 1860 & 1865), in which he maintained 
that the Mount Gambier tertiaries were of Crag age. 
The softer rocks near the Glenelg, and far away along the Mur- 
ray, were examined by explorers, and specimens were sent to this 
Society. Their examination tended to prove that the deposits were of 
the same general character as the Mount Gambier rocks; and with 
this impression Mr. Woods persevered in working among the strata, 
which, covered by basalt, have retained in the neighbourhood of 
Hamilton vast numbers of fossils. 
Specimens of the Madreporaria were sent to me by Mr. Woods; 
and by searching in our Museum I added to their number. My 
paper, which was a supplement to his essay on the Tertiary Deposits 
in the Colony of Victoria, Australia (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1865, 
p- 389), refers to the species I determined from the specimens, 
descriptions of which had been published in the ‘ Annals and 
Magazine of Natural History’ (8rd series, vol. xiv. no. 81, Sept. 
1864; and vol. xvi. no 93, Sept. 1865). The common Echinoderm 
of the tertiaries was also described there, and named Hemipatagqus 
Forbesiz, Woods and Duncan. 
The interest in the Australian tertiaries was increased in the 
colony by Mr. Woods’s popular work, ‘ Geological Observations,’ 
1862, especially when practice and experience proved that there 
Was some connexion between the Tertiaries and gold-finding. 
The Victorian Survey has mapped the province, under great dif- 
ficulties ; and Selwyn, Ulrich, Daintree, and Wilkinson have made 
careful surveys and sections, which, whilst they add to the general 
knowledge furnished by Mr. Woods, give an excellent idea of the 
relative position and characters of the deposits. M‘Coy has en- 
deayoured to correlate the tertiary strata with the European ; and the 
Survey has adopted the terms employed in European tertiary geology. 
In 1867 I received a collection of Madreporaria from Mr. H. M. 
Jenkins, F.G.8., then Assistant-Secretary to this Society, which had 
been sent to him by Mr. Selwyn, with a fine series of shells. All 
the fossils had been collected by the Survey under Mr. Wilkinson, 
from beds in the neighbourhood of Cape Otway, which were marked 
upon the survey sketch map. 
The present communication refers especially to this collection of 
Madreporaria ; but it includes also a description of those forms which 
I have already published ; for some doubtful points have been cleared 
up by the possession of better specimens than those upon which the 
species were founded. The characteristics of the whole fauna are 
considered in the argument concerning the age of the tertiaries. 
Il. Disrrreurtion or tHE Tertiary FossinirErous Deposits. 
The extent of the tertiary deposits in South Australia is not 
known to the north-west; but they cover many thousands of square 
