154 
Clines and Mineral Siatirtics. 
on Peak Dov.'ns. In Xtnv Z:'alaii(I "oLl soinetimos occurs so 
mii:ed Avith siliceous particles as to constitute with them a golden 
sandstone. 
The distinefivG dilTerences in material mineral wealth between 
Victoria and Xcw t^outh AVales are not altogether confined to 
gold or tin, which latter metal is well represented in Xcw 8outh 
AVales and Queensland; but coal, iron, and copjmr, and perhaps 
lead, prove together more than an equivalent of the great amount 
of gold in Victoria. 
At the Universal Exhibition of 1S54-5. the present writer 
exhibited a collection of rocks and fossils, ilhisf rating the whole 
of the geological formations of Australia, as then known, and 
these were enumerated in their stratigraphical order in the 
published Catalogue. A few remarks on the various geological 
epochs, as they iiow.rcpresent themselves in Xew' iSouth W ales, 
with brief statements as to their coniiectiou with oilier portions 
of Australasia, may bo ail that is necessary on the present 
occasion. 
Azoic axd “ IMcxAnoupiLic Eocks. 
There has not been snfFicient evidence yet collected to show 
that these rocks extensively exist in Eastern Australia, although 
in Tasmania rocks of a douht fill class (and which may, ])erhaps, 
he only highly altered Lower Silurian) liavebcen referred to them 
by Mr. Ciould. The existcu'.-e oi‘ gm^dssoid strata, and of schists 
of very ancient aspect, are also Avell known in Xew South Males, 
with occasional iinhissiliferous limestones ; hut it "would be pre- 
mature to place them, without doubt, under tlic present head. 
Mr. Daintree, however, describes them as the source of some 
gold in the Cape Eiver and Gilbert Districts, to the north. Some 
of tliose mentioned under the ‘‘ Eirst Epoch of Strzclecki have, 
on close inspection, appeared to me to he merely the products of 
transmutation ; nor is such an improbable result, seeing that in 
Australia some slates have apparently been changed into granitic 
rocks. It is at least certain that such rocks generally occur in 
the immediate vicinity of granites, which latter frequently occupy 
large areas both in ^laneero audin XewEngland, as well as along 
the Cordillera, and in independent mas.^cs along the coast. In 
AVesteni Australia, Avhere an enormous region is occupied ^y 
granites, and the older formations are rejmesented only by small 
patches of slates, whilst the gi’anites themselves remain bare, 
these patches arc found on the hanks of the granitic bosses and 
at extremely wide intervals ; nor have I been able to detect among 
the numerous collections which have passed through my hands, 
any distinct evidence of any but doubtful examples of those 
foliated rocks wliich belong to the so-called primaiy epoch. In 
