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Geology or Sydney. 
We have now arrived at that stage when the 
writer may hope that he has awakened some interest 
in that strange creature whose remains lie entombed 
in the rocks of the Hawkesbury series, and portions 
of which have been actually recovered from these 
rocks at Biloela, Gosford, and the quarries at St. 
Peters. It would be hard, indeed, to over-estimate the 
value of such fragments of the life of a world that is 
past. And, if it may not be the privilege of everyone 
to write learned treatises describing these animals, the 
humblest student may hope to contribute to the 
advancement of knowledge by collecting every fossil 
that his observations may help him to discover. Even 
early in the century the value of the remains of extinct 
reptiles was duly appreciated. Indeed, a now historic 
fossil caused no little trouble before it found a resting 
place in a Paris Museum. It was the jaw of a fossil 
reptile found in the Mesozoic rocks of St. Peter’s 
Mountain, about a mile south of the city of Maestriclit. 
Dr. Mantel], in his interesting book, Fossils of the 
British Museum , tells its story thus : — 
“ Some workmen, on blasting the rock in one of 
the caverns of the interior of the mountains, perceived 
to their astonishment the jaws of a large animal 
attached to the roof of the chasm. The discovery was 
immediately made known to M. Hoffman, who repaired 
to the spot, and for weeks presided over the arduous 
task of separating the mass of stone containing these 
remains from the surrounding rock. His labours 
