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IRs THE GEELONG NATURALIST. 
THE EOCENE DEPOSITS AT SHELFORD. 
i By J. Dennant, F.G.S., F.C.S. 
AT a visita few months ago to Shelford a day was spent at the fos- 
siliferous station near. The fossils were collected for thesake 
of obtaining new species rather than with any idea of writing 
a paper on the beds. This was not my first acquaintance 
with Shelford shells, as collections made by Mr. Betheras 
and Mr. Sweet, F.G.S., had previously passed through my 
hands. 
Altogether, I find more than 200 species in my cabinet, 
and though I do not yet know the locality well enough to give 
a detailed account of its geology, I thought that a list of the 
fossils gathered, together with a fewremarks upon the horizon 
of the beds, might be acceptable to-the Club. 
The out-crop is situated in the valley of the Leigh River, 
and has been exposed by a cutting on the Shelford to In- 
verleigh road. The earth removed has been used as an em- 
bankment, on the top of which the road runs. The descent to 
the river just below is very steep, and a fence has been erected 
for the protection of travellers. 
The. fossil collector must be content with very moderate 
pick work on the “ face,” for fear of blocking up the road, and 
thus stopping traffic. Rumour indeed has it that an en- 
thusiastic geologist, not unknown tothe members of this Club, 
brought upon himself the remonstrances of the road proprie- 
tor by tearing down so great a quantity of material that work- 
men had to follow him toclear the track. It is satisfactory to 
add that the proprietor referred to had so much sympathy with 
scientific research, that he not only forgave the despoiler, 
but invited him to come again and repeat the operation. 
The fossil bearing strata are exposed for about 50 yards 
along the side of a steep hill known as the * Red Bluff,” 
which rises directly from the river bed. Starting from the 
water's edge, fossils were gathered for about 5o feet up the 
hill, when the basalt commences and continues to the summit, 
which I estimate at 180 feet above the river. The basalt is 
the ordinary “ Newer Basalt” of the survey, which is so 
abundantly developed on the western plains. 
Although the Leigh is but a moderate stream, it flows 
through.a very wide gorge. From Shelford to Inverleigh, a 
distance of about 7 miles, the road keeps entirely in the old 
river valley, which, from half a mile, increases in places to 
fully a mile in width from bank to bank. The bluff mentioned 
at the fossil outcrop is as said 180 feet high, but the general 
