OSTRACODS FROM SOME QUEENSLAND TERTIARY BASINS. 97 
66-71). In that paper Chapman described the ostracods contained in a 
small collection of samples from the Redbank Plains Series, the 
Australian Oil Corporation’s No. 2 Bore on Dunn’s Farm near Beau- 
desert, and the Lowmead No. 1 Bore in the Baffle Creek Tertiaries. He 
briefly described two new freshwater species, Erpetocypris aeqwalis and 
Cypridopsis compressa, and identified a third as the well-known estuarine 
and marine species Cythere crispata from the Redbank Plains Series. 
He also described a new species (?) Cythere queenslandiae and 
recorded Krithe cf. reniformis (Brady) from the Beaudesert Tertiaries, 
and stated (1935, p. 67) that although the Lowmead ostracods were too 
crushed to describe in detail, they were “apparently referable to the 
genera Pontocypris, Cythere, and Paradoxostoma.” On the evidence of 
the associated freshwater and estuarine or marine ostracods Chapman 
concluded that the Redbank Plains basin was a lacustrine area open 
intermittently to a shallow sea, that the Beaudesert Tertiaries were of 
shallow marine or estuarine origin, and that the Lowmead ostracods 
indicated a shallow-water marine deposit. Both Reid and Richards 
(1935, p. xiv), discussing this paper, however, have said that “field 
evidence could not support marine incursions of these basins.” With 
reference to the age of these Tertiaries, Chapman (1935, p. 70) stated that 
although “the Ostracoda give no very decisive data as to the age of the 
various beds other than Tertiary, the rocks may range from Lower 
Miocene, or even older, to Pliocene.” Apart from the above paper, 
Chapman (in Ball, 1932, p. 384) has briefly reported on the ostracods 
from Simpson’s well near Bald Hills in the Petrie Series, stating that 
“their generic affinity is very obscure, and that they can be referred to 
as (?) Cyprids only.” The present writer (1944) has also referred to 
the presence of Erpetocypris aequaLis Chapman along with other 
ostracods in the Petrie Series. 
Thus, although the Queensland Tertiary fauna is rich in ostracod 
remains, it is apparent that the detailed palaeontological study and 
identification of these small crustaceans is almost a virgin field. 
The Value and Limitations of the Queensland Tertiary Ostracods. 
Since the birth of the utilitarian science of micropalaeontology some 
twenty-five years ago, work on fossil ostracods has increased considerably 
in certain parts of the world. This has mainly been due to the import- 
ance of these small crustaceans in economic geology as it has been realised 
that they can be satisfactorily used for purposes of subsurface correla- 
tion. However, as most of this work has been directly connected with 
petroleum geology, it is not surprising to find that almost all taxonomic 
work has been carried out on marine and estuarine forms. This is 
unfortunate, for, while a large and comprehensive literature on marine 
ostracods has been assembled, very little work has been published in 
recent years on freshwater members of this order. In fact, the paucity 
of literature and previous work on Tertiary freshwater ostracods is at 
present a very real handicap, and involves a consequent diminution in 
the stratigraphical value of systematic palaeontological work. 
A number of factors contribute to the utilitarian value of Queens- 
land Tertiary ostracods. 
Although plants, freshwater molluscs, fish, and insect remains have 
been found in these freshwater Tertiaries, boring operations in several 
of the basins have shown that fossil ostracods are often almost the only. 
