i8o 
Mines and Mineral Statistics* 
Varieties of tins mineral occur in tlie Grose Eiver, at Burra- 
gorang, on tlie Colo, on Mount Victoria, and in one spot in 
Tasmania behind Table Cape, on the southern shore of Bass’s 
IStrait, as well as in other localities in other Colonics. Presuming 
that tlie origin above suggested is coi'rect, vix., the occasional 
occurrence iu the ancient deposits of trees of a peculiar resinous 
constitution, there is no anomaly in finding in one spot a mere 
patch amidst a coal seam (as is the case at Anvil Creek, on the 
Hunter Biver), or thick-bedded masses of greater area as in the 
coal seams of Mount A^ork, or of American Creek inthclllawarra, 
depending on the original amount of drift timber. 
In the section presented by the escarpment on the left bank of 
Cox’s Kiver, below Pulpit Hill, at Mcgalong, there are two beds 
in whicli this hydrocarbon exists. 
Some lime since specimens of this, together with others from 
the Illawarra, were taken to America by Mr. Consul Hall, and 
were subjected to examinaiiou by Professor SilUman. The 
result was afterwards published in the American Journal of 
^^cience and Art, uuder the name of Wollongongito, an accidental 
misnomer (as I have elsewhere jiointed out), inasmuch as I have 
Mr. Hall’s written assurance tliat the specimens examined by 
Professor Sillimau did not come from the Illawarra, but from the 
western sections at Megalong and Kecdy Creek. 
Professor Sillimau shows that this material, as tested by him, 
has an illumiiiating power very much greater than any other yet 
known. It would be invaluable if it existed in sufficient quantity 
to meet all demands \ipou it. As it is, there are two separate 
oil-producing works (one on American Creek, the other in 
Petrolia), which are now employed in making mineral oils of 
reasonably good quality, though both inferior to the product 
described by Professor Silliiuan. 
It has been an object of inquiry whetber Petroleum springs 
exist iu Isew South Wales. Such have been reported from the 
Corong in South Australia, and from Taranaki in New Zealand, 
and from A^ictoria. The former is, wo learn, a mistake, being 
probably at a point where certain animal substances have decom- 
posed. In New South AV^ales there are also two localities, known 
to me for many years, in which a nitrous j^roduct exudes ; and 
there are two or three in AVesteru Australia of the same kind, 
which I examined. Nothing of value has as yet been found. 
Supposing the truth of the conjecture respecting the formation 
of Torhanito and its allies from chemical decomposition and 
changes of resinous kinds of drift timber in the masses now trans- 
formed to coal, the occurrence of such a mineral is not necessarily 
confined to coal-beds of oue epoch ; and thus wc find Dr. Hector 
reporting on Ihe occurrence of a hydrocarbon in New Zealand, 
from what he deems a Secondary formation, intermediate iu 
