86 
The Queensland Naturalist October, 1930 
To emphasise the need for closer generic work is not 
to decry the urgency of species investigation. While such 
work upon generic relationships must be the most valuable 
method of making correlations with beds in other coun- 
tries, correlation by means of species will still remain the 
method of work in dealing with the faunas and floras 
within the continent. 
The urgency for applying the third of the methods 
outlined is so obvious that they need hardly be stressed. 
The difficulties that arise in correlating newly-found 
faunal assemblages in Queensland is due almost entirely 
to the paucity of our knowledge of the sequence in any 
typical area. 
Particularly at the moment is the need for zonal 
work acute. Within the past few years there have been 
accumulating a large number of collections from many 
areas and geological formations. In the absence of zonal 
details much valuable information which otherwise could 
be obtained is withheld from the worker, whose task it is 
to describe the collections. Apart from this general need 
there is a demand at the moment for zonal details in 
certain areas where it would be of great economic advan- 
tage. A precise knowledge of the succession of floras in 
the Walloon Series and that of the Cretaceous faunas 
would be of great value in the mapping of those areas in 
Queensland where boring for mineral oil is being carried 
on. Some such work has been done on the Cretaceous 
succession, but much more is needed. 
A detailed zonal investigation into the succession of 
fossils in many of the geological formations is necessary 
if Palaeontology is to afford the valuable help in Queens- 
land which it has given in other countries to the 
prospecting of areas for water, coal, and oil. 
The need for accurate work by these three methods 
is being felt not only in Queensland but in each State of 
the Commonwealth. But it is pleasing to note that in 
practically all of the States the number of workers in 
Palaeontology is increasing. The present needs are great, 
but this increasing interest in palaeontological work most 
probably means that the time is not far distant when 
these methods which really have not yet been fully applied 
in any of the older countries, will be more widely used 
in the solution of the many problems of Australian 
Geology. 
