NOTES ON THE PETRIE SERIES, SOUTH-EASTERN QUEENSLAND. 95 
identical with species occurring in the Redbank Plains Series, while both 
of the other forms have been identified with species shortly to be 
described from the Tertiary shales of The Narrows, near Gladstone. 
The significance of these ostracods as criteria of age will be briefly 
considered below. 
It might also be mentioned that, according to the drilling contractor, 
R. C. Abbott (1943), another bore has been put down several hundred 
yards to the east of Brecknell’s bore, on portion 11, parish of Warner. 
This bore, which is just east of Gympie road, is reported to have been 
sunk to a depth of 305 feet, mainly through greenish and bluish shales. 
From its location and depth there seems little doubt that some of the 
shales passed through contain fossil ostracods. 
Finally, the writer has collected fish spines and several isolated 
vertebrae from biscuit coloured shales which outcrop on the western side 
of Norris road, between Beams and Roghan road, approximately one and 
a-half miles S>.E. of Bald Hills. 
With reference to the complete assemblage of fossil dicotyledonous 
leaves collected from the Petrie Series, it must be admitted that they 
are, unfortunately, of very little value at present for purposes of age 
determination. Owing to the generally confused state of Tertiary 
palaeobotany in Australia, together with the ever-present doubt of 
determinations based on isolated leaves alone, any serious attempt to name 
and describe the individual members of this relatively small collection 
of fossil leaves would be impracticable at the present time. Moreover, 
many of the leaves are incomplete, and taxonomic work on such frag- 
mentary material is particularly hazardous, and always of very doubtful 
value. It must also be pointed out that none of the above Realties in 
the Petrie Series can be compared for richness in dicotyledonous leaves 
with such localities as Ebbw Yale and other places in the Redbank Plains 
Series. Indeed, while the large and rich Redbank Plains flora is still 
awaiting systematic description, any attempt to describe in detail the 
small assemblage of dicotyledonous leaves collected from the Petrie 
Series would be palaeobotanically shortsighted. From the work already 
carried out, however, it seems that the flora is predominantly a 
“Eucalyptus” one, and, as such, distinct from the “ Cinnamomum” flora 
of the Redbank Plains Series. In fact, not one specimen of Cinnamomum 
has yet been found in the Petrie Series, the great majority of the dico- 
tyledonous leaves belonging to the genus Eucalyptus. This may suggest 
a somewhat closer relationship between the Petrie Series and the present- 
day flora than that between the Redbank Plains and the existing flora, 
but naturally at the present stage no definite statement can be made 
in this connection. It can quite definitely be said, however, that the flora 
does show a very close affinity with the present-day flora of South- 
Eastern Queensland, and accordingly, contrary to von Ettingshausen ’s 
generalisation (1883) concerning the Australian Tertiary flora as a 
whole, it is not distinct from the living flora of the area. It might be 
mentioned that this observation has been made by both C. T. White 
and S. T. Blake (1942) in a verbal report to the writer on the fossil 
plants collected from the Petrie Series. Furthermore, since the 
resemblances are so striking, it seems unlikely that the comparisons with 
present-day genera have been carried further than justified. 
With reference to the fossil sedges collected from the several locali- 
ties, determinations are likewise somewhat doubtful at present. It may 
be noted, however, that members of the family Cyperaceae, to which the 
