NOTES AND QUERIES. 



153 



the old crystalline schists and quartz-rocks of Donegal are worked out, no man 

 can predicate, probably something much older than all these. 



Major Austin's labours, carried on with zealous perseverance long since, 

 well deserve recognition, and we are glad to see him, after years of silence, 

 calling up old memories of hard working days. He was the discoverer of these 

 fossils, though by mistake only alluded to in one or two places in Portlock's 

 great work; and, on different grounds from those on which he founds his 

 opinion, I share it as to the seniority of these particular shales, which appear 

 to be rich in peculiar species, and are worthy further search. 



To the other charge of error 1 might, I think, put in a demurrer, and plead 

 the statute of limitations, for my notice of the new JPteraspis was published in 

 the Annals of Natural History," last July. With every disposition to be 

 just to our kind correspondents, it is sometimes difficult, wlien geologists work 

 in company, to assign to each person the due credit for their discoveries of new 

 or rare forms. In the present case I need only say that I received the speci- 

 men from Mr. Lightbody, the well known geologist of Ludlow, as found at the 

 famous quarry which may almost be said to be the property of the Ludlow 

 geologists, so largely have they worked out its precious contents. The speci- 

 men, as I understand, was not only found, but its im])ortance was fully recog- 

 nized by Mr. Lee, tlien in company with my friend ; and this gentleman, since 

 the publication of my short paper, has most kindly presented the specimen to 

 the Museum in Jermyn Street. I trust he will accept my apology for the in- 

 advertence, which I am certain was not the fault of my friend Mr. Lightbody, 

 but my own. — I am, sir, yours obediently, J. W. Salter. 18th February. 



Note on Gold -drifts at Ballaarat. — Dear Sir, — Having been for 

 two and a-half years a " wet -digger" in Victoria, I read with much interest the 

 chapter on gold, in the last edition of Sir R. Murchison's " Siluria," As I am 

 not wholly satisfied with all tliat is therein set forth, perhaps you may deem 

 the few facts I offer sufficiently interesting to merit a place in your valuable 

 periodical. 



Mr. Alfred Selwyn, the Colonial Geologist of Victoria, is represented in 

 " Siluria," p. 493, as having "recognized in Victoria gold-bearing superficial 

 drifts of three distinct stages, lying above each other ; the lowest or oldest of 

 them containing the rem.ains of wood and seed-vessels, differing little from the 

 present vegetation. That such is the case does not, I believe, hold good of the 

 locality in which I worked, as will be apparent from the following : — 



In the begimiing of the year 1855, 1 and others commenced sinkuig in Spring 

 Gully, Creswick Creek, about midway between Ballaarat and the Clunes quartz- 

 mining-field. About fifteen feet down we came upon a black stratum of drift, 

 about twelve feet thick, composed of very fine mud and sand, with embedded 

 leaves, cones, and blackened wood, very loose and difficult to sink through. 

 Under that we had a stratum, about a foot thick, of reddish clay, with 

 boulders, the "wash-dirt" of the miners, in which the gold was "honey- 

 combed." In driving across the guUy the red " wash-dirt" thinned out very 

 rapidly, and disappeared, giving place to the black drift, which here contained 

 boulders and gold : the gold, however, was extremely waterworn, quite dif- 

 ferent to that obtained in the red drift. Others who sunk nearer the side of 

 the gully had no black drift in smking, but in driving across the gully uivari- 

 ably struck the black drift, with them presenting the same features as with us. 

 When the gully was abandoned, the dark run of drift might be tolerably cor- 

 rectly followed by the black heaps at the mouths of the old holes, presenting 

 the appearance in its winding of a watercourse having reddish banks. 



Nearly a mile off is what was the "black lead," so called from the prevailing 

 colour of the dirt, and running from a southerly direction towards the north. 

 While working in or near the middle of the lead I found nothing contrary to 



VOL. III. u 



