128 
Mines and Mineral Statistics. 
make further reference to them than is actiiallj necessary in 
drawing attention to the geological collection now exhibited. 
IS'early the whole of the specimens from the coal measures were 
lately collected by myself, and they have been arranged accord- 
ng to their strati graphical positio]). 
Tlie several divisions of the Upper Palseozoic series have been 
named after the localities where they are found to be most 
typically developed. In descending order they are as follows ; — 
'W'ianamatta series, 
llawkcsbury series. 
Upper coal measures or Newcastle, Wollongongj 
and Bowenfcls series. 
Uj)per marine beds. 
Lower coal measures. 
Lower marine beds. 
Lepidodendron beds. 
Tlie Wianainatta beds consist chiefly of dark -coloured ferrugin- 
ous, thin-bedded aliales, containing fishes, shells, and plants. 
They have been much dislocated by faults or slides, as may be 
well observed in tlic numerous sections exposed in the railway 
cuttings between Sydney and Penrith. A splendid specimen of 
tish of the genns Pala?oniscus is exhibited. It avus found at the 
Gib Tunnel, on the Soufhern PailwaA^ by IVlr. Adams, the Sur- 
veyor General. AVitli this is also exliibited another very perfect 
fossil fish, ricithrolepis^/Y0Z7^/(7/w6*, of Jkxhcozoic ago, as determined 
by Sir P. de M. (t, Egerton, 13art. This is the property of Mr. 
T, Brown, M.L.A., of Eskbauk, and it was found in the HaAvkes- 
hury rocks on the Western railway line, at an elevation of nearly 
8,000 feet above the sea. According to theiiev. Mr. Clarke, the 
eleithrolepis also occurs in the Wianamatia beds. 
Tlic Hawkesbuiy rocks are chiefly sandstones and grits of 
variegated colours, and upwards of 1,000 feet tliick, near Sydney. 
At the head of the Litligow Valley, near tlie Zig-zag, Avhere they 
are Avell seen in section above the upper coal measures, tlicy are 
over 400 feet thick, forming those bold, rocky escarpments and 
mural precipices AA'hich impart such grandeur to the scenery of 
the Blue IMountains. Sydney is built on the Hawkesbury sand- 
sto3ic, and many fine edifices of the city can testify as to the 
value of the stone for building purposes. Some of it, however, 
contains an ohjedionahle quantity of salts. AVhere this is the 
case the stone weathers, not on the surfaces exposed to rain, hut 
on the shellered or under surfaces of the cornices of buildings. 
The same facts may be noticed in the sheltered holloAvs hi the 
sandstone cliffs around Sydney Harbour, in tbc Blue Mountains, 
and especially in the alum caves in the sandstone clift's near 
WalleraAvang. The cause may be easily explained. As the 
