40 
Sedimen tany Form a lions 
Prom the same beds of sandstone also I possess specimens con¬ 
taining ferns, like Odontopteris ; and from the Wianamatta beds 
columnar and pisolitic iron ore, with many fragments of stems or 
leaves of ferns, different in species from those of the coal mea¬ 
sures 5 but in neither series is there any GHossopteris or any coal 
seam. The sandstones of the Wianamatta beds are finer in grain 
than those of the Hawkesbury, but very much more compact and 
heavier, and often calcareous. The tints of the latter are poikilitic , 
darkening from exposure, and exhibiting imitations of landscapes 
sometimes of striking character. The semi-crystalline fragments of 
quartz, and the disposal of colours (suggesting the idea of the 
action of gases removing the ferruginous tint in places) have 
caused mo to believe that somo transmuting agency has affected 
large areas of the Ifawkesbury rocks. The glistening of the 
crystalline quartz particles reminds one of the same character 
observable in the millstone grit of England. It is impossible to 
understand bow considerable masses of the sandstones could have 
received such a present structure without the mfetamorphisin 
suggested; for the crystalline facets are quite unabraded and 
belong to particles that have been collected originally by water 
holding silica in solution. By washing in acids the colouring 
matter of the particles may be entirely removed, and then it is 
seen that they are imperfect cyrstals. But the cementing matter is 
not always ferruginous ; a felspatluc cement holds them together 
with haw mica evidently derivative, and sometimes with graphite. 
Another variation in character of the Ifawkesbury rocks is in 
their cohesion. In 1S50 I was Chairman of the Artesian Well 
Board, and remember the difficulty wo had in procuring tools hard 
enough to pierce the quartzose sandstone at the gaol in Sydney ; 
the boring after a small depth was abandoned—one of the 
■workmen precipitating the conclusion by blocking the bore-hole. 
But in parts of the Railway lines, there have been instances, as 
stated to mo by the Eugineer-in-Chief, when the largest blocks 
have been shivered to atoms by a not very heavy fall over an 
embankment. 
The distinguishing features of tho Wianamatta beds compared 
with the generally level horizon of the grits, sandstones and 
conglomerates of the Hawkesbury rocks aro their greater 
proportion of calcareous matter; and in the region of the shales, 
the smooth rolling surface of the country. In the creeks 
formed by the synclinal slopes of the land, the Hawkesbury 
sandstones, much water-worn, are seen to underlie the Wiana- 
matta beds. 
Victorian Palaeontologists claim for that Colony the existence 
of a coal formation of the same age as the Wianamatta, and I 
have myself long ago pointed out that certain beds at the Barra- 
bool Hills resemble very closely certain strata about Camden, 
