New South Wales. 
65 
I 11 tlie sections published some years ago by Mr. *1. Mackenzie 
and myself, and in subsequent sections byt.be former, as given in 
liis Report; to Government, it will be seen that the number and 
thickness of the seams vary considerably in different localities. 
The former circumstance may be accounted for by the fact that the 
beds in the Coal Measures since troubled by upheavals, sinkings, 
and denudation, wore deposited over various older formations, 
some here, some there, which occur at different levels, so that 
some of the strata are missing in a few of the localities, and all 
are seldom seen together. Thus the Coal-series at the height of 
3,000 feet docs not contain so many seams as nearer to the sea 
level. And, perhaps, in describing them it would be. preferable 
to separate the deposits into various local basins or saucers ; 
though the conditions of a true basin can only be exhibited on 
the large scale. 
It is at least certain, that in the Western Districts, though 
many of the conditions of the Newcastle aud Illawarra beds exist, 
there are found certain fossils which are not found in the latter, 
and which would lead to the presumption that, as we ascend in 
height above the sea we find the introduction of genera gradually 
approximating to a more recent epoch. For example, the upper 
beds of the Lithgow Valley Coal Measures contain a fossil which 
I first collected in 1803, and of which Mr. Wilkinson has lately 
gathered some striking examples. These coniferous fossils con¬ 
sist of stems and branches ending in Strobilites. Professor 
Dana, to whom I sent specimens, informed me that lie had never 
seen such in N. S. Wales before. To me they appear not unlike 
the Strobilites from the Gres higarre of Soulz-les-Bains, in tlie 
Vosges, figured by Schimper and Mougeot (“ Monographic des 
Plantes Fossil as da la Chaine das Vosges.” Leipzig. 1814. tab. xvi, 
p. 31.) Dr. Feistmantel considers them as belonging to 
Fchinosfrobus. 
In another direction, viz., on the Clarence River, there is a 
patch of Coal Measures in which there arc forms resembling that 
of Voltzia, with abundance of fragments of a plant common in the 
Mont d’Or Coal Measures of New Caledonia, together with plants 
that have a Tamioptcroid character but are not Tamiopteris, as 
is the case with many other localities. On the other hand, on 
Bundanoon Creek, in the County^of Camden, there is a 
Dictyopteris. 
As far as some of these plants arc concerned, it may be 
admitted that they are in an unsatisfactory condition at present;, 
but the balance in favour of a “ Carboniferous” age for some ot 
the Glossopteris beds is, to my mind, conclusive. 
The question, then, about the age of some of the Australian 
Coal, must bo considered as settled ; and if, as in Illawarra, the 
Coal-beds at the base mix with the Marine beds, or immediately 
E 
