1870. ] DUNCAN—AUSTRALIAN CORALS. 291 
[The following Madreporaria have been obtained from No. 1. 
Flabellum distinctum, Hdw. & Z. Deltocyathus italicus, Hdw. § H., var. 
Conotrochus M‘Coyi, Duncan. Balanophyllia cylindrica, Michel., var.] 
“Some of the banks around the Aire marsh are composed of soft 
caleareous clay, with beds of hard coralline limestone, almost 
wholly made up of comminuted echini-spines and polyzoa; here are 
also some very ferruginous beds of sandstone containing fossils. 
These beds may be referred to the lower part of the upper beds, or 
the upper part of the middle beds of the Spring-Creek series. The 
fossils collected are labelled No. 12. [No Madreporaria. | 
“« We next find Miocene occupying the base of the cliffs, about a 
mile and a half west of the mouth of the Aire river. Here occurs 
a bed seventeen feet thick (f), containing fossil leaves, labelled No. 2. 
This bed is exactly similar in appearance to those composing the 
cliffs, which are more than 200 feet high, about a mile east of 
Point Addis. It consists of a dark, almost black, argillaceous clay, 
containing crystals of selenite, and having the crevices filled with a 
yellow substance similar to that found in the Point-Addis beds, 
which was analyzed and determined by Mr. Daintree to be basic 
sulphate of iron, the analysis of which is given in his report above 
alluded to. A few feet below high-water mark this bed rests on 
dark clay, with fossils similar to that first mentioned, near Cape 
Otway. These beds dip to the west; but for a little more than a 
quarter of a mile they are so covered up by the fallen masses of the 
more recent tertiary sandstone that their sequence cannot be traced; 
then we get upper beds of the middle series, composed almost en- 
tirely of polyzoa, and containing many fossils, a large kind of Pec- 
ten predominating. Here a fossil seal’s tooth was found, the only 
one, I believe, as yet discovered in the miocene strata in this colony. 
Professor M‘Coy regards this seal’s tooth as belonging to the same 
species as those found in the miocene strata in Malta—which is a 
very interesting fact. These fossils are labelled Nos. 3 and 4 [and 
contain the following Madreporaria :— 
Flabellum gambierense, Duncan. Balanophyllia campanulata, Duncan. 
distinctum, Hdw. § H. Amphihelia incrustans, Duncan. 
Placotrochus elongatus, Duncan. Balanophyllia Selwyni, Duncan. | 
“The beds here dip to the west, but in a short distance they rise 
to Castle Cove, where they are seen resting against the Carbona- 
ceous sandstones (c), and dipping at rather a high angle (of about 30°); 
they consist alternately of soft calcareous clays, and hard thin beds 
of limestone. Here I obtained very fine specimens of Terebratule, 
labelled No. 5. 
“« The only other patch of Miocene, I believe, on the south side of 
the coast-range, occurs between the mouth of the Joanna river and 
Browne’s Creek; this is chiefly hard yellow limestone, containing, 
besides a small species of Serpula, very few fossils: the beds dip 
westerly and evidently belong to the Upper Miocene. The remark- 
able difference in the lithological character and in the prevailing 
fossils of these outliers, renders it a matter of difficulty to determine 
their relations correctly. 
