I IO 
Sedimentary Formations 
been able to recognize the existence of any auriferous matrix, 
though it is well known that alluvial gold was discovered during 
the visit of H.M.8. “ Rattlesnake” on the coast at the other side 
of the 1 sland. 1 jind, however* that nodules of excellent hematite 
occur at New Harbour, about 100 feet above the sea. We have 
had satisfactory additions to our knowledge of that great Island 
from the results of the [Expedition so nobly undertaken by Mr. 
Macleay. 
In 1870 I added a remark or two about the discovery of a 
living Ceratodus iu the waters of Queensland in the preceding 
year, the only previous known existence of the genus being the 
teeth found in Triassie European rocks to which that name was 
given. 
This was an interesting addition to the living Trigonia 
Cestracion, Tercbratula, Ac., of Australia, which connect the 
present period with the forms of life once held to ho extinct 
Inquiries respecting this curious fish have resulted in the dis¬ 
covery of other species than that first found (Ceratodus Fovsteri ), 
and what is more extraordinary, fossilized teeth, of which 1 was 
shown examples by Professor Wy villc Thomson, who found them 
in an excursion purposely undertaken in search of the fish during 
the stay of H.M.S. “ Challenger” in Port Jackson. 
Since the first description of the fish by Mr. Krefft, Dr. 
Gunther, F.R.S., has published a valuable “ Description of Cern- 
todm , a (feint x of Ganoid Fish ex recent If discovert d in rivers of 
Queensland , Australia /’ in the‘*P///7. Transactions” (part II., 1871). 
The result is, that both Agassiz and Pander had, from teeth found 
in the Lias and Trias of Europe, come to conclusions which the 
living Ceratodus fully justifies. Dr. Oldham also had reported 
Ceratodus teeth from Maledi, south of Nagpur, in India, * Aus¬ 
tralia in this instance precedes India, The fish turns out to bo 
allied to Lepidosiren, and its habits are amphibian as it feeds on 
grasses and weeds in fresh water. 
Dr. Gunther goes into a most elaborate and minute examina¬ 
tion of the anatomy of all parts of the fish, and a comparison 
with other fishes of the same and different types. He sums up 
thus — “ The Dipnoous type is represented in* the Devonian and 
Carboniferous epochs by several genera ( Diptcrus , Oheirodus, 
Concho das, Phancropleuroit) ; it is then lost, down to the Trias and 
Lias, where the scanty remains of a distinct genus, ('erafodus, 
testify to its presence : no further trace of it has been found 
until the present period, where it re-appears in three genera, one 
of which is identical with that of the Mesozoic era. Now, at 
present, scarcely any zoologist will deny that there must have 
been a continuity of the Dipnoous type ; and it is only a proof of 
the incompleteness of the paleontological record, that wo have 
to derive all our information regarding it from only three so very 
