Fifty-six 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
June, 1953 
from one million to ten million 
Austral ites were strewn across the 
southern hall of Australia and Tas- 
mania. 
Each group has a characteristic 
different shape or series of shapes, 
also a different chemical composi- 
tion, mostly silica, but the mem- 
bers of any one group have closely 
related types of shape and peculi- 
arities of chemical composition. So 
much so, that with practice one 
may usually identify the group to 
which any individual specimen be- 
longs. Nevertheless, it must be 
remembered that the tektites of 
south-eastern Asia and those of the 
Philippine and East Indian islands 
have much in common. Otley 
Beyer (Manila) suggests the name 
lndo-Malaysianites, to include the 
Indio-Chin ites, Billitonites, Riza- 
lites, Javanites, etc. 
Theories regarding their origin 
vary greatly, for instance: 
(a) relics of at primitive glass 
factory, 
(b) volcanic bombs or bubbles, 
(c) obsidian pebbles rounded in 
the gizzards of emus, 
(d) formed by lightning fusing 
the dust of the air or the 
rocks of the ground, 
(e) splashes from the impact of 
meteorites, 
(f) blobs dropped from a flam- 
ing meteorite, 
(g) “Chips from the moon,” etc. 
(h) swarms of definite glass 
meteorites, 
(i) blobs thrown out “when 
the moon left the Pacific 
Ocean.” 
(j) Doubtless, other theories 
will be forthcoming in the 
future. 
Notwithstanding the variety ol 
theories, they are generally accep- 
Ala 
7 
Alb 
Fig. 1 . — Shapes of Auslralites. Flanged buttons. 
