Mines and Mineral Statistics, 
^59 
remember ])ickin" \ip, in 1829, in the Platz” of Coblentz on 
the llbine, a Hiuiibir drift ])obbk% of just such rock as that iii 
question, eontainitig a Pnioiiiopod of Ji!:e ago. 
Dining Some recent expilorations in the nortli-’vvest of this 
Colony, I 1)ecame satisfied as to tlie widely-spn'ad extent of tlie 
Devonian series, of wliich more evidence will be elicited lierc- 
after, tlic data for winch arc already suificient, but there is no 
room to introduce on this occasion. 
I may add here, that Do Koninck considered tbe fossils ho 
examined to he aliove the Iniropcan strata with Caleeola ; hut 
thongli not present therewith, Caleeola occurs at Blount Drome, 
in the county of Phillip, and IStrc])toi‘hyucus elsewhere. 
Tasmania ^ives no wcdl-ostablished proof of the existence of 
Devonian rock. Dut it is a fair inference, lirst snejgosted by the 
late ^h\ vSalter, that the broad-winged Spirifers common tliere 
in tlie Dalmozoic beds imply the probable occurrence. JVFr. flukes 
and Mr. Gould both repeated the inference. Mr. Darwin and 
Mr. Selwyn agree that some of the Tasmanian fossils “ occur in 
the filurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous strata of Europe.’* 
This is nearly all that is known respecting their position. 
Mestern Australia, according to Mr. Erown’s Eeport, adds 
nothing to the histoiy of tlic Middle Palaw.oics ; hut Mr. 11. 
Gregory indicated on his map and in his Eepori the existence 
of Devonian rocks near York, and in other parts of that Colony. 
Having examined the rocks so indicated, I can only state my 
belief tliat they have no pretension to any such antiquity, and 
are ])robably mere collections of loose granitic matter and other 
drift cemented hy ferruginous paste, which lias since hecomo 
transmuted into concretionary nodules and lifcmatitc. There aro 
also pebbles of trap, much decomposed, in the so-called Devonian. 
They may perhaps be more properly considered as representing 
the laievite of India. 
Queensland, on the other hand, exhibits a stretch of Devonians 
extending through fen degrees of latitude. Not the least interest- 
ing facts arc tliat the Tin Mines of Queensland (as well as those 
of New' South Wales) occur in granites of Devonian age. 
At Gyinpie, on tlio river Mary, ricli gold-hcaring quartz reefs 
occur in transmuted slates and otlier tilted beds, which are com- 
posed of detrited dioritic matter and brccciatcd deposits, in 
which are abundance of fossils of doubtful aspect, and these I 
before referred to some part of the C’arbonifcrous formation. Mr. 
Etheridge considers and has described the fossils as Devonian. 
They certainly have much in common with the Devonian beds 
of North Germany and Belgium, described by Sedgwiik and 
Murchison, as I stated in the Second edition, p. 10. It is right, 
however, to remark that Professor M‘Coy does not adopt this 
determination, considering the rocks to be younger. 
