2 
II -HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF HALYSITES IN 
AUSTRALASIA. 
• 
I have already stated 1 that the late Prof. L. G. de Koninck was the first to 
record 2 the occurrence of this genus in N. S. Wales. This statement is 
accurate only in so far as description is concerned, for the late Prof. A. M. 
Thomson, who, in 1869, accompanied the late Mr. Gerard Krefft to the 
Wellington Caves, and geologically examined that district, was the first to 
identify Halysites as a N. S. Wales fossil. 3 Subsequent to De Koninck’s 
description, the late Mr. C. S. Wilkinson reported the presence of Halysites 
in beds of marble limestone, ten miles west of Forbes. He remarked, 4 “ The 
presence of this latter genus proves the Upper Silurian age of these beds.” 
The next in order of discovery was apparently the Rev. J. M. Curran, who 
collected many specimens near Molong, as already recorded by me ; 
Wilkinson placed the Molong Limestones as the “uppermost or 4 passage 
beds’ ” of the Upper Silurian. 5 In 1898, Mr. Curran’s Molong coral was 
described by me as Halysites australis; 6 and in 1900, a note on the Tasmanian 
form was published. 7 A still more interesting discovery of this coral was 
made in 1901, at Chillagoe, Queensland, by Mr. B. Dunstan, 8 which opens up 
a highly important geological question in that State. 
'Etheridge, Austr. Mils. Rec., Ill, Pt. 4, 1898, p. 78. 
* De Koninck, Foss. Pal. Nouv. Galles du Sud, Pt. 1, 1876, p. 16 ; or, perhaps more correctly, M<5m. Soc. 
R. Li6ge, II (2), 1876. 
3 Thomson, N. S. Wales Votes and Proc., IV, 1870-71, p. 1183 ; Explor. Caves and Rivers N. S. Wales, 
1882, pp. 4 and 12. It is possible that a discovery by the late Rev. W. B. Clarke was anterior to this. He 
said, “ Since 1858 . . . I have detected Halysites. ” (Remarks Sed. Formations N. S. Wales, 4th edit., 
1878, pp. 13 and 129.) 
4 Wilkinson, Ann. Rept. Dept. Mines N. S. Wales for 1878 (1879), p. 151. 
6 Wilkinson, Ann. Rept. Dept. Mines N. S. Wales for 1885 (1886), p. 127 ; Ibid, for 1886 (1887), p 133. 
* Etheridge, Austr. Mus. Rec., Ill, Pt. 4, 1898, p. 78, pi. xvii. 
1 Etheridge, Proc. R. Soc. Tas. for 1898-99 (1900), pp. xxviii and 81. 
8 Dunstan, Ann. Rept. Dept. Mines Q’land (Q’land Pari. Papers, C. A. 18, 1901), 1901, p. 197 ; Report 
Geol. Survey Q’land, No. 159, 1901, p. 21. 
