126 
Mines and Mineral Statistzcs. 
plants and leaves, similar to those from the leaf-beds of Bacchus 
Marsh, in Yictoria. Of the latter, Professor M‘ Coy has observed 
that “ the fossil plants of the ironstones are strikingly distin- 
guished from the pliocene tertiary leaf-beds of the Daylcsford 
and other older gold drift deposits, by the total absence of myrta- 
eeous plants which so strongly mark the recent forest foliage of 
Yictoria. I have no doubt the fossil leaves from this locality 
indicate a lower miocene or upper eocene tertiary flora, in which 
lauraccous plants foi’in a remarkable feature. All the species 
seem new, but leaves of Laurus, Ciuuamomum, Daphnogene, and 
possibly Acer, are scarcely to be distinguished from species 
referred to those genera in the leaf-bods (of the geological age 
mentioned) of Kott, near Bonn, and Ocuniugen (specially the 
Cinnamomum polymorpluan, Heer.)” 
In Xew England the ^Miocene drifts are in many parts very 
3’ich in stream tin. Those in the Invcrell district Avill be found 
already described in my former Eeport on the Greology of that 
tiurbearing country. In the higher table-lands they also occur 
extensively. A A'ery interesting account of the drifts or leads 
near Yegetable Creek has been civen by the i\Iining Eegistrar, 
31 r. Geo. H. Gower, in Ids Official Eeport for 1S7I, from which 
I quote the following : — “ Tin-mining in this district is only in its 
infancy, as, now tliat tlie deposits of tin have been nearly worked 
out of the bed of Yegetable Creek, the course of winch for three 
and a half miles has proved very rich, the stanniferous wash has 
been traced in most of the mines into the banks and adjacent 
flats, wlucli, in some instances, equals, if not excels iu richness, 
the creek bed, and these discoveries have given increased confi- 
■deuce ill the permanency and prosperity of the division. 
“ The lead on Messrs. 3toore and Spears IGO acre purchased 
mineral laud has been considered one of the best ])aying and 
richest mines — having declared dividend of £10,000 for the last 
twelve uiontlis’ work (1874). On some parts of the lead the 
stripping (of a ferruginous sandstone and cement) has been very 
hard, requiring the use of blasting powder, but on an average all 
over the lead, which has jiroved payable to a width of 200 feet, 
the wash is easily got, and the depth of stanniferous dirt is 3 
feet, averaging one bucket (80 lbs.) of tin ore to a load (sixty 
buckets.) Tlic average weekly yield for the last six months, with 
fifty men and two horses, has been twelve tons. The amount of 
tiu ore raised since the mine started (eighteen mouths ago) is 
012 tons. 
“ Yegetable Creek Tin ^lining Company,” situated at a mile 
north of the line of main workings along the Yegetable Creek. 
A main tunnel has been driven 2,000 feet along the course of the 
lead, the width of which is from 18 feet, till it gradually widened 
out to TOO feet, where the present workings are, with an average 
