Xlll 
Xo definite evideneo Avas ohtnined as to tlie age of these A’olcanic 
roeks, AAotli the exception of the fact already mentioned that they co\a‘r 
gTa\mls Avliich are ncAA^cr than the sandstone of the IlaAvkesbnry Series. 
Conclusions icilh regard to the age of the Fish Beds. — The stratigraphical 
evidence obtained Avonld seem to indicate that these beds aati'c deposited in a 
holloAV of erosion in the sandstones of the Handveshury Series for tlie folloAving 
reasons ; — 
(1) The Fish Beds differ in lithological character from any rock knoAvn 
to occur clscAvhere in the llaAvkeslmry Series. 
(2) They thin out rapidly against the sandstone of the latter formation, 
Avhich rises to a considerable height on tlieir margin, and is noAvhere 
seen to OA^erlic them. 
The evidence supplied by the fossil plants from the Fish Beds, as 
])i'ovisionally interpreted by Mr. II. Etheridge, Junior (o/j. cit.), implies that 
these beds may he the equivalents of tlie Bellarine Series of Victoria, and of 
the Ipswich Series of Queensland Avith relations to the Clarence Series of 
N. S. Wales. Our OAvn ohser\'ations sIioav that there is a distinction hetAveen 
the flora of the red shales (Avhich latter were iinknoAvn to Mr. Etheridge, and 
Avhich are undoubtedly referable to the HaAvkeshury Series) and that of the 
Fish Beds, and as these tivo deposits are only a mile distant from one another, 
they are probably separated from one another by a considerable interval of 
geological time. 
The early Mesozoic Flora of Australia characterised by Thinnfeldia , 
Tamioptenis, and Bodozamites, ])rohably had a considerable vertical range, as 
A\ais the case Avith the Glossopteris Flora wliieli ])rcceded it, certain s})cei('s in 
the latter having been proved to hav(^ been jiersistcnt through at least eight 
thousand feet of strata. As the beds containing the first-named flora have a 
thickness in places, as in Victoria, according to Mr. B. A. F. Murray, F.G.S., 
of about twenty thousand feet,^ it is not unreasonable to suppose that their 
upper portion is of Jurassic age, a conclusion already adopted by Mr. II. Ij. 
Jack, F.G.S., in his classification of the Queensland rocks. 
Mr. A. S. WoodAvard in this Memoir argues a Jurassic age for the 
O O 
Talbragar Fish Beds, basing his conclusions on the affinities of the fossil fish. 
There is nothing in the strati graphical evidence obtained by us, nor in the 
provisional report on the associated fossil plants by Mr. R. Etheridge, Junior, 
to disprove this opinion. On the contrary, the balance of the evidence is, aa’c 
think, in favour of it. 
T. JV. EDGE won ril DAVID. 
EDJVABD F. PITTMAN. 
A^ictoria. Geology and Physical Geography. Svo. Melbourne, 1887. Py Authority, p. 95. 
