OLDER TERTIARIES OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 
357 
when dealing with our fossil corals, for he says* — “ The general facies 
of the whole is older than is warranted by the geological position.” 
Mr. J. W. Gregory, from his examination of the echinoderms, regards 
the evidence to be gathered from them in favour of the Eocene age of 
the beds in which they occur, f 
Professor P. M. Duncan, in 1870, in dealing with our Tertiary 
corals, after showing that they did not in any way confirm but actually 
conflicted with the subdivisions of our Tertiary beds adopted by the 
Geological Survey of Victoria, says* — “ The diagnosis of the age of the 
Tertiary beds by the percentage system cannot as yet be applied to the 
Australian sedimentary beds, in consequence of the Mollusca not 
having been sufficiently studied; and the comparison between the 
existing Australian coral fauna and that of the Tertiaries would give a 
much older geological age to them than is warranted by the physical 
geology of the area.” 
Mr. R. M. Johnston, in 1876, § regarded any attempt at classify- 
ing the beds at Table Cape as premature and misleading, as sufficient 
was not known of either the existiug or extinct forms, and advises the 
acceptance with the greatest caution of “the subdivisions of the various 
widely separated Tertiary marine deposits of Victoria into Oligocene, 
Miocene, and Pliocene until we know more fully the extent and quality 
of the evidence which forms the basis of their classification.” Even 
in 1888 Mr. Johnston, in his “ Geology of Tasmania,” did not see his 
way clear to adopt any more definite subdivision for the Tasmanian 
Tertiaries than that indicated by the use of such terms as Palaeogene 
and Neogene. 
As already pointed out, the evidence from the foraminifera in no 
■wise conflicts but confirms that now advocated upon the molluscan 
percentage principle and stratigraphical succession of the beds. 
SUCCESSION OF THE BEDS. 
Sir E. McCoy and the Geological Survey of Victoria have always 
regarded the blue clays of Mornington and the Gelli brand River, and 
their equivalents in other parts of the colony, as of Oligocene age and 
the oldest members of the Tertiary series in Victoria. || 
Professor Tate and Mr. Dennant in their correlation paper^j* 
also state that Mornington “is correctly placed at the base of the 
Tertiary series.” 
Mr. T. S. Hall and I have shown that in the Geelong district 
the polyzoal limestone called Miocene by the Geological Survey really 
underlies the clays called by them Oligocene, and we regard both as 
Eocene.** 
* Q.J.G.S., vol. xxxiii., p. 69. + Geo. Mag. N.S., Dec. III., vol. vii. 
X Q. J G.S., vol. xxvi., pp. 313, 314. § Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas., 1876, p. 89. 
j| Exhib. Essay, 1866, McCoy, p. 332 or 17 ; Prog. Rep. Geo. Surv. Vic., vol. i.,. 
1874, p. 35 ; op. cit. vol. iv., pp. 132, 157 ; op. cit. vol. v., pp. 23, 176 ; Prod. Pal. 
Vic. Dec. I. to VII. ; Geo. and Phys. Geog. Vic., p. 101 ; Prog. Rep. Geo. Surv. Vic. 
vol. viii. , 1894, p. 48. 
H Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., 1893, p. 216. 
** Proc. Roy, Soc. Vic., vol. iv., n.s., p. 16. 
