PREFACE. 
The want of a Manual of Victorian Geology lias been frequently 
expressed ; and though able writers have dealt with the subject, 
some of their works have not been so prominently placed before 
the public as their merits entitled them to be, while others are out 
of print, and copies remain in the hands only of a few. 
An essay on mining in the colony of Victoria was prepared and 
published by Mr. A. R.'C. Sehvyn, then Government Geologist, 
in connexion with the catalogue of the Victorian Exhibition in 
1861. 
In connexion with the Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866, a 
pamphlet was published, entitled “Mining and Mineral Statistics, 1 ’ 
by Mr. 11. Brough Smyth, then Secretary for Mines. 
An excellent work on the physical geography, geology, and 
mineralogy of Victoria, by Mr. A. R. C. Sehvyn and Mr. (now 
Professor) George F. Ulrich, was also issued in 1866. 
In 1869, a large volume, entitled “ The Gold-fields and Mineral 
Districts of Victoria,” was compiled by Mr. R. Brough Smyth, 
who subsequently published a pamphlet styled “Mining and 
Mineral Statistics, with Notes on the Rock-Formations of Vic- 
toria,” in connexion with a Geological Sketch-map of the colony, 
prepared for the Victorian Exhibition of 1872 and the Inter- 
national Exhibition of 1873. 
A descriptive catalogue of the rock and mineral specimens 
in the Industrial and Technological Museum, Melbourne, was 
prepared, under the direction of Mr. J. Cosmo Newbery, Superin- 
tendent, by Mr. George F. Ulrich in 1875, and embodied obser- 
vations on the leading geological characteristics of Victoria. 
From 1856 to 1868, the Geological Survey of Victoria was in 
regular progress, under the direction of Mr. A. R. C. Selwyn, 
assisted by the late Messrs. C. D’Oyley Aplin and R. Daintree, 
