308 Carboniferous Glaciation , Etc .— White. 
to record the presence of a Sub-Carboniferous flora in a ter- 
rane which is described by W. B. Clarke 1 as the lower part of 
the Muree beds, and as, passing down into the Lepidodendron 
beds. The Muree beds include three terranes; the Lower 
Marine beds, the Stony Creek beds, containing the older coal 
seams, and the Upper Marine beds. As described above, these 
marine beds are considered glacial in their origin. It is im¬ 
portant to note that nearly all of these terranes are fossi'lifer- 
ous, and occasionally marine plants and animals are found in 
the same beds. According to Dr. Ottokar Feistmantel’s list, 2 
the flora includes one species of Phyllotheca , four of Glossop- 
teris , one of Nceggerathiopsis, and one of Annularia, and pre¬ 
sents on the whole a mesozoic aspect, though the marine stra¬ 
ta, both above and below, contain a fauna that is unquestion¬ 
ably Carboniferous, including such genera as Spirifer, Conul- 
aria, Orthoceras, Fenestella, etc. These were fully described by 
De Koninck, 3 and of the 176 species identified, 74 are found in 
the Carboniferous limestone of Europe. There is hardly an ex¬ 
ception to the opinion that the boulder beds of the Muree ter- 
rane were deposited at some time in the Carboniferous period, 
and it is generally believed that it was during the lattpr part 
of the Carboniferous, proper. 
The Newcastle terranes, nearly 1,000 feet in thickness, and 
consisting of sandstones, shales and coal-seams, overlie the 
Muree terranes. The only animal remains from the New¬ 
castle were those of Urosthenes australis described by Dana, 4 
who considered the coals as of paleozoic age. Twenty-three 
species of plants have been found, many of which are identi¬ 
cal with those of the Damudas of India.' It was this circum¬ 
stance, as well as the similarity of the beds, together with 
their underlying terranes, which first led to a comparison of 
the Australian formation with the Indian, and helped to con¬ 
firm the paleozoic age of the lower members of the latter. 
Above the Newcastle is a formation of coarse-grained sand- 
*W. B. Clarke. Remarks on the sedimentary formations of New 
South Wales, etc. 4th Ed., Sydney, 1878, 8vo. 
2 Trans. Roy. Soc., N. S. W., 1860. 
Palseozoische und mesozoische flora des ostlichen Australiens. 
Palseontographica, Suppl. Ill, Lief. 3, Cassel, 1878-’79,195pp.,30pl. 
3 Recherches sur les fossiles pal6ozoiques de la Nouvelle Galles du 
Sud. Bruxelles, 1876-77. 8vo. 
4 U. S. Exploring Expedition, Geology, 1849, p. 495. 
