4582 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
opposite directions. Stars of four and six rays, (figure 2,) and also 
globular masses, bristled on all sides with the ends of prisms, are 
common among them. ‘They have a very rough, brownish exterior, 
like a fragment of sandstone; and within, instead of the regular 
cleavage structure of a proper crystal, the texture is crystalline gra- 
nular. <A surface of fracture glistens like a fine-grained statuary 
marble, though less bright. An attempt was made to burn them for 
lime, but they crumbled, and so clogged the fire that 1t was abandoned. 
At one of the localities the specimens are coated with minute 
crystals of gypsum: they were probably formed through the decom- 
position of iron pyrites, this mineral giving rise to the sulphuric acid 
which united with the lime of the concretions. ‘The rough surface 
of these rhombic concretions may have arisen from erosion by this 
process, or by the action of water percolating through the clay. 
The discovery of concretions of the same kind in Oregon shows that 
these prisms actually consist of a series of rhombohedrons, as illustra- 
ted by figures in the course of our remarks on the Geology of Oregon. 
Fossils of the Coal Regions. 
We make in this place only a few remarks on the general character 
of the fossils, as they are particularly described in an Appendix at the 
close of the volume. 
With the exception of a single fossil fish, the organic remains ob- 
served in this formation belong to the vegetable kingdom. 
The specimen of fossil fish referred to (see Plate I.), was obtained 
by Mr. James Steel from the B or second coal pit of Newcastle, and 
was presented by him to the collections of the Mechanics’ Institute of 
the place, where it was deposited in October, 1837. It was found 
about ninety feet from the surface, in a layer of bluish sandstone. 
I was informed by Mr. Robert Scott of Glendon, that another fossil 
fish was formerly obtained from the rocks near his residence,—about 
forty miles above the mouth of the Hunter. But as the specimen had 
left the country, I had no means of ascertaining its characters. 
The Flora of the carboniferous era of New South Wales has afforded 
comparatively few species. No true Calamites, Sigillarie, Lepido- 
dendra, nor any of the genera of tree-ferns which characterized the 
carboniferous era of Europe and America, were observed by the 
author. Instead, the prevalent species were small ferns and Equise- 
