{HE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 38h 
EXCURSION. 
TRIP TO DUNDAS QUARRIES. 
Aprit.—There was an appearance of Autumn in the orchards 
which slope in gradual succession from Dundas railway sta- 
tion to the top of the hills some hundreds of feet high. We 
were some thirty in number who filed out of the station along 
the road to Dundas Quarries. It was an artist’s afternoon 
as well as a naturalist’s. There was every shade of colour 
from soft greys to deep crimsons and groves of tall green 
trees lent distinction to the scene. Mr. Benson, B.Sc., was 
the leader. He supplied each member of the party with a 
coloured sketch map of the Quarry together with a list of the 
minerals found there; these proved of great use and his 
thoughtful kindness was greatly appreciated. ‘The leader drew 
attention to the fact that the surface of the surrounding coun- 
try was composed of Wianamatta shales of varying depths. 
The walls of the quarry are mainly composed of breccia 
through which, at various points, tongues of lava had forced 
its way. The floor of the quarry is the main volcanic pipe 
and the height from the floor to the top of the excavation 
at its highest point about 167 feet. Mr. Benson stated that 
it was his opinion that it is the result of two volcanic outbursts 
the first having failed to force itself to the surface, the second, 
however, driving the strata intervening between itself and 
the surface upwards. The second upheaval brought the lava 
to the surface. More than an hour was spent in collecting 
specimens. These consisted of specimens of altered shale, 
basalt, breccia, gabbro, diallage, some excellent specimens of 
calcite, aragonite and chromite. Recent excavation has laid 
bare some good specimens of columnar basalt. The excursion 
proved an unqualified success. Specimens collected were as 
follow :—Rocks: Shale, Sandstone, Conglomerate, Breccia, Ba- 
salt, Anorthosite, Gabbro, Hartezburgite, Sherzolite, Dunite, 
and Serpentine. Minerals: Barytes, Aragonite, Calsite, Sid- 
erite, Quartz, Amethyst, Pyrites, and Chlorite. 
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 
Tur Emu, April, 1910.—The April number of this pub 
lication is a very fine one. There is an excellent account by 
F. Lawson Whitlock, on “‘The East Murchison,’’ describing 
a four months’ collecting trip. Accompanying the article 
is a splendid series of illustrations. There are a number of 
shorter articles of much interest. 
The Selborne Magazine, March and April, 1910, numbers. 
A short article on ‘‘The Functions of an Insect’s Antennae,”’ 
in the March number, should be read by members. - The 
