i o Sedimentary Formations 
whole of the geological formations of Australia as then known, 
and these were enumerated in their stratigraphicnl order in the 
published catalogue. A few remarks on the various geological 
epochs, as they now represent themselves in New South Wales, 
with brief statements as to their connection with other portions 
of Australasia, may be all that is necessary on the present 
occasion, in addition to a comparison of the catalogue above 
referred to with the collection exhibited in Paris in 1S78 by the 
Department of Mines, Sydney, and others, to show the progress 
of geological development in New South Wales during the last 
twenty-three years. 
§ 1. So-called “ Azoic” on “ METAMonriiic ” Rocks. 
There has not been sufficient evidence yet collected to show 
that these rocks extensively exist in Eastern Australia, although 
in Tasmania rocks of a doubtful class (and which may perhaps 
be only highly altered Lower Silurian) have been referred to them 
bj r Mr. Gould. The existence of gneissoid strata, and of schists 
of very ancient aspect, with occasional uufpssiliferous limestones, 
are also well known in New South Wales, as at Cow Elat, near 
Bathurst; Cooma Ilill, Maneero ; Wagga Wag <4 a; flanks of 
Mount Kosciusko, &c. ; but it would be premature to place them, 
without doubt, under the present head. Mr. Daintree, however, 
describes them as the source of some gold iu the Cape River and 
Gilbert Districts, to the North. Some of those mentioned under 
the “First Epoch” of Strzelecki, have, on close inspection, 
appeared to ine to be merely the products of transmutation; 
nor is such an improbable result, seeing that in Australia some 
slates have been changed into granitic rocks. It is at least 
certain that such rocks generally occur in the immediate vicinity 
of granites, which latter frequently occupy large areas both in 
Maneero and in New England, as well as along the Cordillera, and 
in independent masses along the coast. In Western Australia, 
where an enormous region is occupied by granites, and the older 
formations are represented only by small patches of slates, whilst 
the granites themselves remain bare, these patches are found on 
the flanks of the granitic bosses and at extremely wide intervals ; 
nor have I been able to detect among the numerous collections 
which have passed through my hands, any distinct evidence of 
any but doubtful examples of those foliated rocks which belong 
to the so-called Primary epoch. In Southern Australia, also, 
there does not appear to be any considerable amount of strata 
which could be referred to this epoch, transmutation has, how¬ 
ever, acted vigorously in New South Wales in all the older 
formations. 
