2 
all that of the Merivale River, and then forms 
the high table land in which the most northern 
tributaries of the Darling take their rise. Above 
these great beds of calcareous sandstone, there 
is a layer of trap of great thickness in some 
localities, and of less iu others. I have not, 
myself, been able to discover any evidence of 
volcanoes, but Sir T. L. Mitchell mentions 
several. A great portion of the Main Range 
appears to be formed by the basalt forcing its 
way through the crust of the earth by one or 
more great efforts, and overspreading the pre- 
viously formed sandstones for many miles. 
Mount Owen, Mount Ogilby, and the other 
basaltic peaks which form so picturesque a 
feature in that locality, are not volcanoes, but 
the remains of a vast field of basalt of which 
the land has been denuded by powerful destruc- 
tive forces. I think there can be no doubt of 
this, as the sandstone which underlies these 
peaks is undisturbed, which could not have 
been the case had volcanic action of that 
character taken place at those points. I may 
further mention, that from its relative posi- 
tion to the other formations, the basalt 
appears to be the youngest solid rock. 
With respect to the calcareous sandstones, 
there are several layers differing somewhat 
from each other, on the heads of the Warego ; 
the upper layer is pebbly. At St. George’s 
Pass, on the Amby, the lower and greater mass 
of rocks has been much disturbed, some parts 
of the strata being almost vertical. Above 
this there is a stratum about four feet thick, 
which contains email modules of quartz and 
water-worn trap, together with gaping shells 
such as belong to shallow waters. In the great 
lower beds of sandstone I have found no shells, 
but on the heads of Bungil Creek they contain 
coal and lignite. I may here mention, with 
reference to the coal, that our Queensland fields 
appear to be of great extent. I need not men- 
tion those known on the coast ; but on Dar- 
ling Do wn3 this valuable mineral has been 
found on several of the stations. On the Con- 
damine a seam crosses the river bed about 
two miles below the junction of Char- 
ley’s Creek. Further west a seam again 
crosses the river four miles above Tierryboo 
head station. We again find it near Wallon, 
and on the Moonie river, also, as I have stated, 
on the heads of the Bungil ; thence crossing 
the main range on some of the heads of the 
Dawson, on Mount Hutton run ; near the 
sources of the Warego in the vicinity of Mount 
Owen, there is also coal, and when crossing 
from the Merivale to the Upper Maranoa— 
although I did not see the mineral itself I 
observed the usual indications of its existence. 
Thus should ever railways extend from Bris- 
bane to Carpentaria we can, at least, make 
sure of «oal — such as it may prove to be— 
f or 400 miles of the route. I have only found 
one example of bituminous shale ; the coal 
seam is about seven inches thick, it lies to the 
north' of Mount Kennedy, at Appletree Creeks 
On the Comet river there is a coal seam of 
much older date than the calcareous sand- 
stones — it is 'the equivalent of the New- 
castle coal. On Fitzroy Downs I have 
found numerous specimens of sandstones which 
belong to the same system, but no longer exist 
in situ , or, at least, near the surface. The 
rocks which I have seen have been altered, and 
sometimes fused by extreme heat, probably afc 
the time of the eruption of the basalt. They 
now constitute the greater portion of the gravel 
whichis so plentiful on the surface of the Western 
Downs and are also found imbedded in tertiary 
rocks. From the evidence which has reached 
him, my esteemed friend, the Rev. W. B. 
Clarke, writes to me, “ I cannot help thinking 
that the coalfields of Newcastle pass under 
your newer formations.” ,1 will take the liberty 
of calling the attention of the society to this 
important subject, not only as a scientific but as 
social question. It is quite possible that this 
valuable coal may crop out at various points as 
well as at the Comet river. We have no 
survey, and it is scarcely probable that 
one wiil be made for some years. But if your 
society can induce people who have coal on 
their stations to forward specimens, particu- 
larly of the flora, you might, from data already 
kuown, form a reasonable conjecture as to 
whether we have a really good steam coal at 
points available for our future railways. In 
addition to the calcareous sandstones, there ap- 
pears to have been deposited at a later period, 
a pebbly sandstone grit, highly impregnated 
with carbonate of iron. That on the summit 
of Mount Red Cap is of this character ; it is a 
tertiary rock. The rock, generally, has suffered 
much from' destructive forces, and now exists 
chiefly in detached peaks or low ranges of 
limited extent. I have found no fossils in this 
roek, but it contains fragments of fossilized 
wood, the outer surface of which is almost 
metalized, whilst the core retains a singular 
fibrous texture. There is only one other 
rock to mention, namely, the conglomerate 
of clay, sand, and pebbles, which, to- 
gether with psammite, occupies a great por- 
tion of the valley of the Condamine, and then 
trending westward south of the Fitzroy Downs, 
crosses the Maranoa south of Mount Colby, 
and, horn the description of the country, I 
rather think extends beyond the Warego. I 
have seen it on the W arego waters. Wherever 
I have found this class of rocks the country is 
of a very poor character. The flats are, in 
many instances, tolerably good, owing to the 
amount of vegetable matter which the soil 
contains. But on the ridges the rocks crop 
out, and are everywhere near the surface, and 
there is but little soil. Timber is abundant, 
but of an inferior quality, being brittle and 
liable to early decay. Grass seed is prevalent, 
and ruinous to sheep ; cattle, however, get 
very fat, and succeed well if they can be kept 
