2 
evidences that the Desert Sandstone once covered the whole of the western interior are 
nnmistahable, and it is matter for congratulation that it has been so extensively 
denuded as to lay bare, over an immense area, the rich soil-producing Cretaceous rocks. 
Dotvveen the Desert Sandstone and the Jlocent deposits is a series of drifts containing 
the remains of extinct marsupials and other animals. 
In the following chapters, the various formations which tell a part of the 
geological history of the Colony are described in detail. 
In my “Handbook of Queensland G-eology” (Brisbane, 1886), of which the 
present work may to some extent bo regarded as an expansion, I favoured the use of 
local names for the various formations described. lu the present work, although the 
local names have been for the most part retained, I have ventured to point out the 
probable relations of the Queensland formations to those of Europe. 
In a highly philosophical essay, Mr. E. M. Johnston, E.L.S., Government 
Statistician of Tasmania, asked the members of the Australasian Association* the 
question, “ How far can Australian geologists safely rely upon the order of succession 
of the characteristic genera of fossil plants of a far distant region in the determination 
of the order and relationship of Australian terrestrial formations ?” and answered for 
them, that — “Australian geologists cannot with safety so rely, and that even within the 
wide borders of Australia considerable differences may be expected in the biology and 
minor subdivisions of systems as developed in some of its widely separated colonies.” I, 
for one, heartily concur in this verdict, and I know that my Colleague in the palseontologieal 
work has been fully alive to the difficulties attending classification when based upon 
palmobotanical evidence alone. In dealing with animal remains, however, we trace a 
parallelism between the formations of Australia and Europe, although in view of the 
wide distance between the two regions we do not claim more than homotaxial relationship 
for the formations to which in Queensland we have attached European names. AVe 
must, however, point out that the order of succession of the Queensland formations 
bears a general and striking resemblance to that of tlie European. 
These sedimentary formations are described in the order indicated in the following 
table, commencing with the oldest or lowest. 
Proc. Austr. Assoc, Adv. Soi. for X888 [1880P p. 302, 
