Mr. B;. Daintree on the Geology of the Colony of Queensland. 475 



Cretaceous rocks extend throughout the whole of Central Queens- 

 land, and thence to Western Australia. On the eastern side of the 

 dividing range a small patch of ferruginous grit containing Panopoea 

 plicata, occurs near Pelican Creek ; and from Gordon Downs species 

 of Panopcea, Pholadoinya, and CucuRcea have been obtained. These 

 beds probably represent a lower horizon than those on the Flinders 

 River ; and a large portion of the colony east of the dividing range 

 is covered by freshwater deposits, containing plant-remains (in- 

 cluding Tceniopteris), and in their upper part a fauna apparently 

 intermediate between the Gordon-Downs and Flinders-River series. 

 In these deposits, on the Condamine, Brisbane, and Mary rivers, 

 numerous Coal-seams exist. The author supposes that, contem- 

 poraneously with the deposition of a series of marine beds to the 

 west of the dividing range, during the Oolitic and part of the 

 Cretaceous period, a vast lacustrine deposit was accumulated over a 

 large area to the eastward of the range, to which the sea subse- 

 quently obtained access. 



Among the Paleozoic deposits, the author distinguished Car- 

 boniferous and Devonian rocks. The Carboniferous series was said 

 to be represented in northern Queensland by an extensive Coal- 

 field. The upper portion of the series (grits, sandstones, and shales) 

 contains chiefly fossil plants, the most abundant being a Glossopteris. 

 The lower strata (generally argillaceous limestone) contain Pro- 

 ducti, SpjirifercB, &c. of true Carboniferous type, intermixed with 

 scanty and imperfect remains of the above-mentioned plants. A 

 set of fossils from the head of the Don River were said to agree 

 with those found in the Hunter-River series of New South Wales. 



Devonian rocks extend from 18° S. lat. to the southern boundary of 

 Queensland and for 200 miles inland. They consist of slates, sand- 

 stones, and Coral-limestones. The upper portion of this series con- 

 tains an abundance of fossil plants, the deposits containing which, 

 at Mount Wyatt, are interstratified with beds containing Spirifercie ; 

 and other fossils of Devonian type occur in beds reached by shafts 

 sunk through these strata. In the limestone of the lower portion 

 of the series corals are very numerous. On the Broken River this 

 formation may be best studied. Gold is found in many parts of the 

 Devonian district ; and the author entered in considerable detail into 

 its mode of occurrence there. 



Metamoephic rocks were described by the author as occurring in 

 various localities. At the Cloncurry, Cape-River, Gilbert, Peak- 

 Downs, Black-Snake, Kilkwan, and Goaroomjain Diggings these are 

 mica- and hornblende-schists, whilst at the Ravenswood Diggings 

 the rock is a granite with triclinic felspar. The latter, which con- 

 tains more or less hornblende, the author regarded as of metamor- 

 phic origin. The author noticed the connexion between the presence 

 of certain trappean rocks in these metamorphic areas and in the De- 

 vonian area and the production of auriferous and cupriferous lodes. 



True Granites crop out along the eastern coast of Queensland ; and 

 these vary much, passing into porphyry and quartz-porphyry ; but 

 monoclinic felspar always predominates in them. 



