166 W. G. WOOLNOUGH. 



Between the Macleay and Manning Rivers no detailed 

 examination was attempted, though the formations 

 developed and the relationships between them are of very- 

 great interest and importance. 



On the Manning River several excursions were taken 

 with Taree as a centre, and considerable collections of 

 rocks were made by enthusiastic residents. 



About two miles east of Taree a thick bed of limestone 

 dipping N.E. at 43° crosses the main road. At this point 

 the limestone is bluish-grey, rather crystalline, and con- 

 tains no fossils except a few crinoid stems. What appears 

 to be the same bed of limestone was picked up at intervals 

 for a distance of about seven miles, in a general west-north- 

 westerly direction to a point near Wingham. At the Taree 

 Rifle Range the limestone is dark greyish-brown and dis- 

 tinctly oolitic. At Ahearn's (five miles from Taree on the 

 Oedar Party Greek Road) it passes into a handsome reddish 

 marble, while at Wingham it is a greenish crystalline lime- 

 stone. At Ahearn's there are numerous pebbles of slaty 

 and schistose rock up to four inches diameter, embedded 

 in the limestone in a way which suggests the "dumping'* 

 of small erratics by icebergs. At Wingham well preserved 

 specimens of large Aviculopectens occur, indicating that 

 the bed is of the same age as, and probably identical with, 

 the limestone of the Macleay River. 



No very decisive evidence of the existence of the Loch- 

 invar glacials on the Manning has been obtained so far. A 

 strong bed of conglomerate occurs below the limestone at 

 Taree in the correct position for the glacial bed, but I was 

 unable to satisfy myself definitely as to its glacial character. 

 At Ahearn's, immediately below the limestone there is a 

 bluish gritty bed, almost a breccia in places, but here again 

 no very conclusive proof of glacial origin is forthcoming. 



