winds. The rainfall is constant, but not so profuse as on 

 the west coast of Tasmania, one figure for the annual rain- 

 fall being 44 inches. 



The island is a dependency of the Government of Tas- 

 mania, and, although until recently it was the home of only 

 a few marsupial hunters, it is now regarded as a valuable 

 asset, its rapid advance being chiefly due to the determined 

 struggle of the settlers against certain natural disabilities, 

 cattle disease being the chief. The population is now 

 over 600, the staple industries being the fattening of cattle 

 and dairying. 



Previous Literature.— Very little reference to King 

 Island is to be found in scientific literature. A systematic 

 bibliography is not attempted here, but, so far as the writer 

 knows, the only paper dealing directly with the geology of 

 the island is a recent one on the sub-fossil bones found 

 there, by Professor Baldwin Spencer and Mr. Kershaw. 

 References to the geology of the island are made by Mr. 

 R. M. Johnston and others in general papers on Tasmania 

 and Bass Straits, but apparently no detailed geological 

 examination has yet been made. 



General information as to Bass Straits will be found in 

 R. M. Johnston, Syst. Acct. Geology, Tasmania, 1888; 

 A. W. Howitt, Rept. Austr. Assoc. Adv. Science, vn, 1898, 

 pp. 723-758; W. Baldwin Spencer and J. A. Kershaw, 

 Mem. Nat. Museum, Melbourne, No. 3, 1910. 



Physiography. -The physiography of King Island is 

 sulficiently remarkable to call for detailed notice. When 

 we remember that the Cape Otway Ranges rise to over 

 1,000 feet, and the north-western Tasmanian ranges higher 

 still, and further, that the islands at the eastern end of 

 Bass Strait are of marked relief (Cape Barren Island, 2,500 

 feet) it is somewhat surprising to find that King Island 

 possesses no hill higher than 600 feet, and nothing in the 



