CHAPTER 3.15.
Geological specimens collected.
Connection between soil and rocks.
Limestone.
Granite.
Trap-rocks.
Sandstone.
Geological structure and physical outline.
Valleys of excavation.
Extent of that of the Cox.
Quantity of rock removed.
Valley of the Grose.
Wellington Valley.
Limestone caverns.
Description and view of the largest.
Of that containing osseous breccia.
First discovery of bones.
Small cavity and stalagmitic crust.
Teeth found in the floor.
A third cavern.
Breccia on the surface.
Similar caverns in other parts of the country.
At Buree.
At Molong.
Shattered state of the bones.
Important discoveries by Professor Owen.
Gigantic fossil kangaroos.
Macropus atlas.
Macropus titan.
Macropus indeterminate.
Genus Hypsiprymnus, new species, indeterminate.
Genus Phalangista.
Genus Phascolomys.
Ph. mitchellii, a new species.
New Genus Diprotodon.
Dasyurus laniarius, a new species.
General results of Professor Owen's researches.
Age of the breccia considered.
State of the caverns.
Traces of inundation.
Stalagmitic crust.
State of the bones.
Putrefaction had only commenced when first deposited.
Accompanying marks of disruption.
Earthy deposits.
These phenomena compared with other evidence of inundation.
Salt lakes in the interior.
Changes on the seacoast.
Proofs that the coast was once higher above the sea than it is at present.
Proofs that it was once lower.
And of violent action of the sea.
At Wollongong.
Cape Solander.
Port Jackson.
Broken Bay.
Newcastle.
Tuggerah Beach.
Bass Strait.
GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS COLLECTED.
As any geological information respecting a country so little known as the eastern coast of Australia may be acceptable to the public, I venture to subjoin a few observations on some of the more prominent subjects of my researches, and I do so with the more confidence because it will appear how largely I am indebted for the interest they possess to the kindness of my scientific friends in England.
CONNECTION BETWEEN SOIL AND ROCKS.
During the surveys and expeditions I carefully collected specimens at every important locality, and I have thus been enabled since my return to England to mark upon my maps the geological structure of the country. By this means also I have been able to determine the relative value of the land in the districts recently explored and to compare it with that of the country previously known.
By a little attention to the geological structure of Australia we learn how much the superficial qualities of soil and productions depend upon it, and where to look for arable spots amid the general barrenness. The most intelligent surveyors of my department have on several occasions contributed considerably to my collection.
Curiosity led me to investigate some of the fossil remains of those lately discovered regions while my public duties obliged me to study also the external features of the country; and I have thus been enabled to draw some inferences respecting various changes which have taken place in the surface and in the relative level of sea and land.
The following are the principal rocks which I noticed in the country.
LIMESTONE.
Limestone occurs of different ages and quality presenting a considerable variety.
1. A light-coloured compact calcareous rock resembling mountain limestone; at Buree and Wellington, rising, at the former place, to the height of about 1500 feet above the sea.
2. A dark grey limestone appears at perhaps a still greater height on the Shoalhaven river; in immediate contact with granite.
3. A crystalline variegated marble is found in blocks a few miles westward of the above, near the Wollondilly.
4. Another variety of this rock is very abundant in the neighbourhood of Limestone plains on the interior side of the Coast ranges and near the principal sources of the Murrumbidgee. This contains corals belonging to the genus favosites; crinoideae are also found abundantly in the plains and distinguish this limestone from the others above-mentioned.
These rocks present little or no appearance of stratification.
A remarkably projecting ridge on the banks of Peel's river contained limestone of so peculiar an aspect as to resemble porphyry, and it was associated with a rock having a base of chocolate-coloured granular felspar. (See Volume 1.)
A yellow highly calcareous sandstone, apparently stratified, occurs near the banks of the Gwydir. Large rounded boulders of argillaceous limestone have been denuded in the bed of Glendon brook; and an impure limestone is found in the neighbourhood of William's river, both belonging to the basin of the Hunter and not much elevated above the sea. Calcareous tuff or grit may be observed in various localities, and calcareous concretions abound in the blue clay of almost all the extensive plains on both sides of the mountains.
A soft shelly limestone, most probably of recent origin though slightly resembling some of the oolites of England, occurs extensively on the southern coast between Cape Northumberland and Portland bay where it forms the only rock with the exception of amygdaloidal trap.
GRANITE.
Granite or granitic compounds are more or less apparent at or near the sources of the principal rivers; but with the exception of the Southern Alps and some patches in the counties of Bathurst and Murray this fundamental rock is visible in Australia only where it appears to have cracked a thick overlying stratum of ferruginous sandstone. Thus near the head of the river Cox where the latter attains its greatest elevation, and from the character of the valley has evidently been violently disturbed, we find granite in the valley near the bed of the stream.
Observation 1. Such is the character of the country where the waters separate, or in the line of greatest elevation which we are accustomed to term the Coast Range. The general direction of this range is north-north-east and accords perfectly with the hypothesis of Dr. Fitton, founded on the general parallelism observed in the range of the strata, even on the north-western coast, as noticed in his interesting little volume, the first ever devoted to Australian Geology.* The parallelism so remarkable in the range of strata in that portion, the general tendency of the coastlines to a course from the west of south to the east of north on the mainland, and even in the islands west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and a general elevation of the strata towards the south-east, as deduced from Flinders' remarks, are all facts which should be studied in connection with the direction of the granite along this part of the eastern coast.
(*Footnote. An account of some Geological specimens from the coasts of Australia by William Henry Fitton, M.D., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., etc. 1826.)
Observation 2. It may be also observed that the sandstone reposing on the rock eastward of this division or watershed is slightly inclined towards the sea, whereas all the sandstone on the interior side, or westward of it, dips to the north-west.
TRAP-ROCKS.
Trap-rocks are displayed in a great variety of situations. They often occur connected with limestone in valleys, sometimes constitute lofty ranges as on the north or left bank of the Hunter, and along the seashore at the Illawarra; they likewise cap the summit of isolated hills, but no particular place can be assigned to them with reference to the position of any other rocks. Trap forms a good soil on decomposition as is shown in the rich districts of the Illawarra, Cowpastures, Valley of the Hunter, Liverpool Plains, Wellington Valley, and Buree.
Vesicular lava and amygdaloid are the chief ingredients of some of the best parts of Australia Felix. In that region volcanic phenomena are more apparent than in other parts of Eastern Australia, especially where the Grampians, consisting of a mass of sandstone 4000 feet thick, seem a portion of the great formation covering the districts of the north. The strata in these mountains are inclined to the north-west, as if in obedience to the upheavings of Murroa or Mount Napier, an extinct volcano in the very line of their outcrop.
Observation. We found in the interior, hills of sandstone only, but at this extremity of the great Coast range granite is extensively exposed in ridges, between which, in one extensive district, are round heights of mammeloid form, consisting of pure lava, and in another, tabular masses of trap reposing on granite occupy one side of a valley.
GRAVEL.
Beds of gravel are not common in these parts of Australia; but occur partially in the basins of the larger streams on the interior side of the Coast range where the pebbles in general consist of quartz.
SANDSTONE.
The prevailing geological feature in all Eastern Australia is the great abundance of a ferruginous sandstone in proportion to any other rocks. The sterility of the country where it occurs has been frequently noticed in these volumes. It is found on the coast at Port Jackson and it was the furthest rock seen by me in the interior beyond the Darling.
A deposit upwards of 1200 feet thick forms the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, ranging thence, with the intersection of no other rock of importance, to the Hawkesbury; and although declining towards the sea at the rate of only 100 feet per mile, or 1 in 52, or at an angle of about 1 degree with the horizon; yet it is traversed by ravines which increase in depth in proportion as the sandstone attains a greater elevation, and present perpendicular crags and cliffs of a very remarkable character.
A region consisting of a sandstone deposit of so great thickness and so slightly inclined necessarily presents a monotonous aspect in all directions; and when it is compared with European countries composed of many formations and presenting great diversity of scenery it proves how much geological structure influences pictorial and physical outlines. (See Plate 10 Volume 1, also Plate 38 above.)
In the eastern part of Australia the geologist will certainly find sections in abundance but they are nearly all of sandstone for, with few exceptions no other rocks have been denuded in situations similarly exposed.
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND PHYSICAL OUTLINE. VALLEYS OF EXCAVATION. EXTENT OF THAT OF THE COX.
The ravines which discharge their waters into the little river Cox occupy an area of 1,212 square miles, or one-half of the county of Westmoreland on the right or south side of that river, and one-fourth of the county of Cook on the other. Of this area 796 square miles, equal to one-half of the county of Westmoreland, are on the right or south side of that river, and 416, or one-fourth of the county of Cook, on the left. The whole extent comprises the basin of this mountain stream, and is bounded by heights rising very gradually from about 1000 feet at the gorge or outlet of the Cox, to 3,400 feet on the north side at Blackheath, and on the south to Murruin and Werong, summits of still greater elevation; the lowest part of the ridge bounding this basin on the west or interior side being nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea. Cox's river flows over a bed of water-worn rocks which, in the upper part of the valley, is 2,150 feet above the sea, and on the road to Bathurst this bed consists of trap and granite. The river falls rapidly on leaving the granite of the vale of Clwyd to a level not much above that of the sea, and it escapes near its junction with the Warragamba from this spacious basin through a gorge about 2,200 yards wide and flanked on each side by points about 800 feet high.
QUANTITY OF ROCK REMOVED.
Supposing but two-thirds of the enclosed area of sandstone to have been excavated to the depth of 880 feet only, which I allow as the mean thickness of the stratum thus broken into, and considering the inclination of the Cox and other valleys, then 134 CUBIC MILES of stone must have been removed from this basin of the Cox alone.
VALLEY OF THE GROSE.
The valley of the Grose, whose basin is contiguous to that of the Cox on the north, is of less extent but enclosed by cliffs of greater perpendicular height. That river has been already described in the journal, and the general character of the valley through which it flows is represented in Plate 10 Volume 1.* We now perceive but slight indications of the action by which the great area of stone in the valley of the Cox, the Grose etc. has been removed. There are no accumulations of sand but huge blocks of rock, scarcely worn by attrition, occur in great abundance in the bed of the stream; neither do we find in the larger channels of the rivers below any sand deposits, but on the contrary the very rich alluvium which distinguishes the banks of the Hawkesbury.
(*Footnote. This book is already almost too full of plates and I beg to refer the geological reader to my three-sheet map of the Colony for the superficial forms and extent of these valleys.)
WELLINGTON VALLEY.
In the year 1830, after I had traced out the new line of descent from the Blue Mountains to the interior country by the pass which I then named Mount Victoria, I extended my survey to the heights beyond Wellington Valley. This includes a rich alluvial tract watered by the river Bell, one of the principal tributaries of the Macquarie, and is about 170 miles to the westward of Newcastle. It is bounded on each side by a compact calcareous rock resembling the mountain limestone of England and rising on the east side to about 100 feet above the Bell.
PLATE 42: GEOLOGICAL MAP OF WELLINGTON VALLEY.
From Nature and on Stone by Major T.L. Mitchell.
Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
On the west side of this valley hills of greater elevation, consisting of a red sandstone and conglomerate, extend parallel to the limestone; and on the east side of it is another range composed of trap-rocks. The basis of a tract still further eastward, dividing the watershed of the interior from that which sends its streams to the sea is, as has been already observed, of granite.
The limestone presents a naked and rugged surface composed of pointed, weather-worn blocks between which are small crevices leading to caves and fissures. From these crevices a warm air ascends, accompanied by a smell peculiar to the caves. The worn aspect of the external rock, resembling half-dissolved ice, is very remarkable, particularly near the largest caverns.
An account of the survey of these caves was communicated to the Geological Society in a paper read on the 13th of April 1831, of which an abstract was published in its Proceedings, but the particulars respecting the animal remains found by me have derived great additional importance from the discoveries made by Professor Owen since my return to England. I may be excused therefore for again calling attention to the situation of those curious caves respecting which the following details are now published with the consent of the Council of the Society.
LIMESTONE CAVERNS.
The entrance to the caves of Wellington Valley is in the side of a low hill and 65 feet above the adjacent alluvial flat. It consists of two crevices between large blocks of limestone in one side of a hollow about 12 feet deep; and which has evidently been widened by water. (Plate 41.)
PLATE 43: INTERIOR OF THE LARGEST CAVERN AT WELLINGTON VALLEY.
Major T.L. Mitchell. Day and Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
London, Published by T. and W. Boone.
DESCRIPTION AND VIEW OF THE LARGEST.
We first descended the fissure at the mouth of the large cave, and then clambered over great rocks until, at 125 feet from the entrance, we found these inequalities to be covered by a deep bed of dry, reddish dust, forming an even floor. This red earth lay also in heaps under lateral crevices, through which it seemed to have been washed down from above. On digging to a considerable depth at this point, we found a few fragments of bone, apparently of the kangaroo. At 180 feet from the mouth is the largest part of the cavern, the breadth being 25 feet and the height about 50 feet. The floor consisted of the same reddish earth, but a thick stalagmitic crust extended for a short distance from a gigantic stalactite at the further end of the cavern. On again digging several feet deep into the red earth here we met with no lower layer of stalagmite nor any animal remains.
On a corner of the floor behind the stalactite and nearly under a vertical fissure we found a heap of dry white dust into which one of the party sunk to the waist.* (G. Plate 44.)
(*Footnote. The dust when chemically examined by Dr. Turner was found to consist principally of carbonate of lime with some phosphate of lime and animal matter. Proceedings of the Geological Society for 1831.)
Passing through an opening to the left of the stalactite we came upon an abrupt descent into a lower cavern. Having reached the latter with some difficulty, we found that its floor was about 20 feet below that of the cavern above. It was equally level and covered to a great but unascertained depth with the same dry red earth which had been worn down about five feet in a hollow or rut.
A considerable portion of the farthest part of the floor (at H) was occupied with white dust or ashes similar to that found in the corner of the upper floor (at G).
PLATE 44: VERTICAL SECTION AND GROUND-PLOT OF TWO CAVERNS AT WELLINGTON VALLEY.
From Nature and on Stone by Major T.L. Mitchell.
Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
This lower cavern terminated in a nearly vertical fissure which not only ascended towards the external surface but descended to an unascertained depth beneath the floor. At about 30 feet below the lowest part of the cavern it was found to contain water, the surface of which I ascertained was nearly on a level with that of the river Bell. Having descended by a rope I found that the water was very transparent but unfit to drink, having a disagreeable, brackish flavour.
This lower cavern is much contracted by stalactites and stalagmites. After having broken through some hollow-sounding portions (at O and N) we entered two small lateral caverns and in one of these, after cutting through (at I) about eight inches of stalagmitic floor, we discovered the same reddish earth. We dug into this deposit also, but discovered no pebbles or organic fragments; but at the depth of two and a half feet met with another stalagmitic layer which was not penetrated. This fine red earth or dust seems to be a sediment that was deposited from water which stood in the caves about 40 feet below the exterior surface; for the earth is found exactly at that height both towards the entrance of the first cavern and in the lateral caverns. (See Plate 44.)
That this cave had been enlarged by a partial sinking of the floor is not improbable, as broken stalagmitic columns, and pillars like broken shafts, once probably in contact with the roof, are still apparent. (See the view of the largest cavern Plate 43.)
OF THAT CONTAINING OSSEOUS BRECCIA.
Eighty feet to the westward of this cave is the mouth of another of a different description. Here the surface consists of a breccia full of fragments of bones; and a similar compound, confusedly mixed with large blocks of limestone, forms the sides of the cavity. This cave presents in all its features a striking contrast to that already described. Its entrance is a sort of pit, having a wide orifice nearly vertical, and its recesses are accessible only by means of ladders and ropes. Instead of walls and a roof of solid limestone rock we found shattered masses apparently held together by breccia, also of a reddish colour and full of fragments of bones. (Plate 45.) The opening in the surface appears to have been formed by the subsidence of these rocks at the time when they were hurled down, mixed with breccia, into the position which they still retain. Bones were but slightly attached to the surface of this cement, as if it had never been in a very soft state, and this we have reason to infer also from its being the only substance supporting several large rocks and at the same time keeping them asunder. On the other hand we find portions of even very small bones, and also small fragments of the limestone, dispersed through this cementing substance or breccia.
FIRST DISCOVERY OF BONES.
The pit had been first entered only a short time before I examined it by Mr. Rankin, to whose assistance in these researches I am much indebted. He went down by means of a rope to one landing-place and then, fixing the rope to what seemed a projecting portion of rock, he let himself down to another stage where he discovered, on the fragment giving way, that the rope had been fastened to a very large bone, and thus these fossils were discovered. The large bone projected from the upper part of the breccia, the only substance which supported as well as separated several large blocks, as shown in the accompanying view of the cave (Plate 45) and it was covered with a rough tuffaceous encrustation resembling mortar. No other bone of so great dimensions has since been discovered within the breccia. (See Figures 12 and 13, Plate 51.)
PLATE 45: INTERIOR OF THE CAVERN CONTAINING OSSEOUS BRECCIA AT WELLINGTON VALLEY. Major T.L. Mitchell. Day and Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
London, Published by T. and W. Boone.
From the second landing-place we descended through a narrow passage between the solid rock on one side and huge fragments chiefly supported by breccia on the other, the roof being also formed of the latter and the floor of loose earth and stones.
SMALL CAVITY AND STALAGMITIC CRUST.
We then reached a small cavern ending in several fissures choked up with the breccia. One of these crevices (K. Plate 44) terminated in an oven-shaped opening in the solid rock (Plate 50) and was completely filled in the lower part with soft red earth which formed also the floor in front of it and resembled that in the large cavern already described. Osseous breccia filled the upper part of this small recess and portions of it adhered to the sides and roof adjoining, as if this substance had formerly filled the whole cavity. At about three feet from the floor of this cavity (Plate 50) the breccia was separated from the loose earth below by three layers of stalagmitic concretion, each about two inches thick and three apart; and they appeared to be only the remains of layers once of greater extension, as fragments of stalagmite adhered to the sides of the cavity as shown in Plate 50. The spaces between what remained of these layers were filled with red ochreous matter and bones embedded partially in the stalagmite. Those in the lower sides of the layers were most thickly encrusted with tuffaceous matter; those in the upper surfaces on the contrary were very white and free from the red ferruginous ochre which filled the cavities of those in the breccia, although they contained minute transparent crystals of carbonate of lime.
TEETH FOUND IN THE FLOOR.
On digging (at K) into the soft red earth forming the floor of this recess, some fragments of bone, apparently heavier than those in the breccia, were found, and one portion seemed to have been gnawed by a small animal. We obtained also in this earth the last phalange of the greatest toe of a kangaroo, and a small water-worn pebble of quartz. By creeping about 15 feet under a mass of solid rock which left an opening less than a foot and a half above the floor, we reached a recess about 15 feet high and 12 feet wide (L). The floor consisted of dry red earth and, on digging some feet down, we found fragments of bones, a very large kangaroo tooth (Figure 6 Plate 47) a large tooth of an unknown animal (Figures 4 and 5 Plate 51) and one resembling some fragments of teeth found in the breccia. (See Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, Plate 51.)
A THIRD CAVERN.
We next examined a third cave about 100 yards to the westward of the last described. The entrance, like that of the first, was tolerably easy, but the descent over the limestone rocks was steeper and very moist and slimy. Our progress downwards was terminated by water which probably communicated with the river Bell, as its level was much lower when the cave was first visited during a dry season. I found very pure iron ochre in some of the fissures of this cavern but not a fragment of bone.
BRECCIA ON THE SURFACE.
Perceiving that the breccia, where it occurred below, extended to the surface, I directed a pit to be dug on the exterior about 20 feet from the mouth of the cave and at a part where no rocks projected. (N, Plate 44.) we found that the hill there consisted of breccia only; which was harder and more compact than that in the cave and abounded likewise in organic remains.
Finally I found on the summit of the same hill some weathered blocks of breccia from which bones protruded, as shown in the accompanying drawing of a large and remarkable specimen. (Plate 46.)
PLATE 46: ROCK OF BRECCIA FOUND ON THE SURFACE ABOVE THE LARGEST CAVERN AT WELLINGTON VALLEY.
T.L.M. del. A. Picken Lith. Day and Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
SIMILAR CAVERNS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.
Other caverns containing breccia of the same description occur in various parts within a circuit of 50 miles, and they may probably be found throughout the limestone country not yet examined.
AT BUREE.
On the north bank of the Macquarie, 8 miles east from the Wellington caves, and at Buree, about 50 miles to the south-east of them, I found this breccia at considerable depths, having been guided to it by certain peculiar appearances of subsidence and disruption, and by yawning holes in the surface, which previous experience had taught me to consider as indications of its existence.
On entering one of these fissures from the bed of the little stream near Buree and following, to a considerable distance, the subterraneous channel of the rivulet, we found a red breccia containing bones as abundantly as that of Wellington Valley. It occurred also amidst masses of broken rocks, between which we climbed until we saw daylight above and, being finally drawn out with ropes, we emerged near the top of a hill from a hole very similar in appearance to the mouth of the cave at Wellington, which it also resembled in having breccia both in the sides of the orifice and in the surface around it.
AT MOLONG.
At Molong, 36 miles east of Wellington Valley, I found some concreted matter within a small cavity of limestone rock on the surface and, when broken, this proved to be also breccia containing fragments of bone.
SHATTERED STATE OF THE BONES.
It was very difficult to obtain any perfect specimens of the remains contained in the breccia--the smallest of the various portions brought to England have nevertheless been carefully examined by Professor Owen at the Hunterian Museum, and I have received from that distinguished anatomist the accompanying letter containing the result of those researches and highly important determinations by which he has established several points of the greatest interest as connected with the Natural History of the Australian continent.
IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES BY PROFESSOR OWEN.
Royal College of Surgeons, May 8th, 1838.
Dear Sir,
I have examined, according to your request, the fossil remains which you discovered in Wellington Valley, Australia, and which are now deposited in the Museum of the Geological Society; they belong to the following genera:
GIGANTIC FOSSIL KANGAROOS.
MACROPUS Shaw.
Sp. 1. Macropus atlas. O. This must have been at least one-third larger than Macropus major, the largest known existing species: it is chiefly remarkable for the great size of its permanent spurious molar; in which respect it approaches the subdivision of Shaw's genus, called Hypsiprymnus by Illiger. The remains of this species consist of a fragment of the right ramus of the lower jaw. (I*) Figure 1 Plate 47.
(*Footnote. The numbers and letters within a parenthesis in this letter refer to labels on the specimens.)
Sp. 2. Macropus titan. O. I gave this name to an extinct species, as large as the preceding, but differing chiefly in the smaller size of the permanent spurious molar; which in this respect more nearly corresponds with the existing Macropus major. The remains of this species consist of a fragment of the right ramus of the lower jaw. (II) Figure 3 Plate 47.
PLATE 47: FOSSIL REMAINS AND RECENT SPECIMENS:
FIGURE 1, BELONGING TO Macropus atlas, AND
FIGURE 2, TO THE LARGEST RECENT SPECIMEN.
FIGURES 3, 4, AND 5, TO Macropus titan.
FIGURE 6, THE INCISOR OF A FOSSIL KANGAROO.
FIGURE 7, THE INCISOR OF THE LARGEST NOW KNOWN.
FIGURE 8, FOSSIL LUMBAR VERTEBRA.
From Nature and on Stone by Major T.L. Mitchell. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
In both the above specimens the permanent false molar is concealed in its alveolus, and was discovered by removing part of the substance of the jaw, indicating the nonage of the individuals.
A portion of cranium with the molar series of teeth of both sides. (II) Figures 4 and 5 Plate 47. This specimen I believe to belong to Macropus titan.
The permanent false molar, which is also concealed in this upper jaw, is larger than that of the lower jaw of Macropus titan, but I have observed a similar discrepancy in size in the same teeth of an existing species of Macropus.
To one or other of the two preceding gigantic species of kangaroo must be referred:
II.a. Crown of right inferior incisor, Figure 6 Plate 47.
II.b. Lower extremity of right femur.
II.c. Lower extremity of right femur, with the epiphysis separated, showing its correspondence in age with the animals to which the fossil jaws belonged.
II.d. 5th Lumbar vertebra, Figure 8 Plate 47.
II.e. 10th or 11th Caudal vertebra. The proportion of this bone indicates that these great kangaroos had a relatively stouter and perhaps shorter tail than the existing species.
Macropus sp. indeterminate. Agrees in size with Macropus major, but there is a difference in the form of the sacrum: the second vertebra of which is more compressed--to this species which cannot be determined till the teeth be found, I refer the specimens marked:
III. Sacrum.
III.a. Proximal end of left femur.
III.b. Proximal end of left tibia, in which the anterior spine sinks more gradually into the shaft than in Macropus major. As this is the only species with the skeleton of which I have been enabled to compare the preceding fragments, I am not able to pronounce as to their specific distinctness from other existing species of equal size with the Macropus major.
Macropus sp. indeterminate. From want of skeletons of existing species of kangaroo, I must also leave doubtful the specific determination of a species smaller than Macropus major, represented by the left ramus of the lower jaw (IV) in which the permanent false molar is in place together with four true molars, and which would therefore be a species of Halmaturus of Fred. Cuvier.
Macropus.
(V.) Part of the left ramus of the lower jaw, with two grinders in place, and a third which has not quite cut through the jaw.
(V.a.) Sixth and seventh grinders according to the order of their development, right side, upper jaw, of a kangaroo not quite so large as Macropus major.
Several other bones and portions of bone are referable to the genus Macropus, but they do not afford information of sufficient interest or importance to be specially noticed.
GENUS HYPSIPRYMNUS.
Hypsiprymnus, sp. indeterminate.
(VI.) Figures 1 and 2 Plate 48. A portion of the upper jaw and palate with the deciduous false molar and four true molars in place on each side; the fifth or posterior molar is concealed in the alveolus, as also the crown of the permanent false molar.
PLATE 48:
FIGURES 1, 2, AND 3: FOSSIL REMAINS OF A NEW SPECIES OF HYPSIPRYMNUS.
FIGURES 4, 5, AND 6: OF Phascolomys mitchellii.
FIGURE 7: A SECTION OF THE TEETH OF THE SAME FOSSIL SPECIES OF WOMBAT.
From Nature and on Zinc by Major T.L. Mitchell. Day and Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
London, Published by T. and W. Boone.
Hypsiprymnus.
(VI.a.) Figure 3 Plate 48. Part of the right ramus of the lower jaw, exhibiting a corresponding stage of dentition.
Observation. This species is rather larger than any of the three species with the crania of which I have had the opportunity of comparing them: there is no evidence that it agrees with any existing species.
GENUS PHALANGISTA.
(VII.) Cranium, coated with stalactite.
(VII.a.) Part of right ramus, with spurious and 2nd molar.
(VII.b.) Right ramus, lower jaw.
Observation. The two latter specimens disagree with Phalangista vulpina in having the spurious molar of relatively smaller size, and the 2nd molar narrower: the symphysis of the lower jaw is also one line deeper in the fossil. As the two latter specimens agree in size with the cranium, they probably are all parts of the same species, of which there is no proof that it corresponds with any existing species. But a comparison of the fossils with the bones of these species (which are much wanted in our osteological collections) is obviously necessary to establish the important fact of the specific difference or otherwise of the extinct Phalanger.
GENUS PHASCOLOMYS.
Sp. Phascolomys mitchellii, a new species.
(VIII.) Figure 4 Plate 48. Mutilated cranium.
(VIII.a.) Figure 5 Plate 48. Part of lower jaw belonging to the above.
(VIII.b.) Figure 6 Plate 48. Right series of molar teeth in situ.
(VIII.c.) Right ramus of the lower jaw.
Observation. These remains come nearer to the existing species than do those of any of the preceding genera; but after a minute comparison I find that there is a slight difference in the form of the grinders which, in the fossil, have the antero-posterior diameter greater in proportion than the transverse; the first grinder also is relatively larger, and of a more prismatic form; the upper incisors are less compressed and more prismatic; this difference is so well marked that, once appreciated, anyone might recognise the fossil by an incisor alone. There is a similar difference in the shape of the lower incisor. The fossil is also a little larger than the largest wombat's cranium in the Hunterian Collection. From these differences I feel no hesitation in considering the species to which these fossils belong as distinct; and propose to call it Phascolomys mitchellii.
NEW GENUS DIPROTODON.
I apply this name to the genus of Mammalia represented by the anterior extremity of the right ramus, lower jaw, with a single large procumbent incisor.
(IX.) Figure 1 Plate 49. This is the specimen conjectured to have belonged to the Dugong, but the incisor resembles the corresponding tooth of the wombat in its enamelled structure and position. See Figure 2 Plate 49 and a section of the wombat's teeth in Figure 7 Plate 48. But it differs in the quadrilateral figure of its transverse section, in which it corresponds with the inferior incisors of the hippopotamus.
To this, or to some distinct species, of equal size, have belonged the fragments of bones of extremities marked X., X.a., X.b.
GENUS DASYURUS.
Dasyurus laniarius, O. A new species. I apply this name to the species to which the following remains belong.
(XI.) Figures 3 and 4 Plate 49. Portions of the left side of the upper jaw.
PLATE 49:
FIGURES 1 AND 2: FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE DIPROTODON.
FIGURES 3, 4, 5, 6, AND 7: FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE Dasyurus laniarius.
(XI.a.) Figure 5 Plate 49. Portions of the left side of the upper jaw.
(XI.b.) Figure 6. Left ramus lower jaw, with last grinders.
(XI.c.) Figure 7. Anterior part of the right ramus of lower jaw.
This species closely resembles Dasyurus ursinus, but differs in being one-third larger, and in having the canines, or laniaries, of proportionately larger size.
The position of the teeth in the specimen marked XI.c. Figure 7, which are wider apart; leads me to doubt whether it is the lower jaw of Dasyurus laniarius, or of some extinct marsupial carnivore of an allied but distinct species.
GENERAL RESULTS OF PROFESSOR OWEN'S RESEARCHES.
The general results of the above examination are:
1. That the fossils are not referable to any known extra-Australian genus of mammals.
2. That the fossils are not referable, from the present evidence, to any existing species of Australian mammal.
3. That the greater number certainly belong to species either extinct or not yet discovered living in Australia.
4. That the extinct species of Macropus, Dasyurus, Phascolomys, especially Macropus atlas and Macropus titan are larger than the largest known existing species.
5. That the remains of the saltatory animals, as the Macropi, Halmaturi, and Hypsiprymni, are all of young individuals; while those of the burrowing Wombat, the climbing Phalanger, and the ambulatory Dasyure, are of adults.
I remain, dear Sir, etc.
(Signed) Richard Owen.
AGE OF THE BRECCIA CONSIDERED.
Nothing could be discovered in the present state of these caverns at all likely to throw any light on the history or age of the breccia, but the phenomena they present seem to indicate more than one change in the physical outline of the adjacent regions, and probably of more distant portions of Australia; at a period antecedent to the existing state of the country.
STATE OF THE CAVERNS.
Dry earth occurred in the floor of both the caverns at Wellington Valley and in the small chamber (Plate 28) of the breccia cave it was found, as before stated, beneath the three lines of stalagmite and the osseous breccia. It seems probable therefore that this earth once filled the cave also to the same line, and that the stalagmite then extended over the floor of red earth. Moreover I am of opinion that the interval between the stalagmite and the roof was partly occupied by the bone breccia of which portions remain attached to the roof and sides above the line of stalagmite. It is difficult to conceive how the mass of red earth and stalagmitic floors could be displaced, except by a subsidence in the original floor of the cave. But the present floor contains no vestiges of breccia fallen from the roof, nor any remains of the stalagmitic crust once adhering to the sides, which are both therefore probably deposited below the present floor.
PLATE 50: MARKS OF SUBSIDENCE IN AN INNER PORTION OF THE BRECCIA CAVERN.
Major T.L. Mitchell del. Scherf Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
In the external or upper part of the same cave, as shown in Plate 45, the floor consisted of the red dust, and was covered with loose fragments of rock, apparently fallen from conglomerated masses of limestone and breccia which also however extended under the red earth there. Thus it would appear that traces remain in these caverns: First, of an aqueous deposit in the red earth found below the stalagmite in one cavern, and beneath breccia in the other. Secondly, of a long dry period, as appears in the thick crust of stalagmite covering the lowest deposit in the largest cavern, and during which some cavities were filled with breccia, even with the external surface. Thirdly, of a subsidence in the breccia and associated rocks and, lastly, of a deposit of red earth similar to the first.
TRACES OF INUNDATION.
The present floor in both caves bears all the evidence of a deposition from water which probably filled the interior of the cavern to an unknown height. It is clear that sediment deposited in this manner would, when the waters were drawn off, be left in the state of fine mud, and would become, on drying, a more or less friable earth.
STALAGMITIC CRUST.
Any water charged with carbonate of lime which might have been subsequently introduced would have deposited the calcareous matter in stalactites or stalagmites; but the general absence of these is accounted for in the dryness of the caves. This sedimentary floor contained few or no bones except such as had previously belonged to the breccia, as was evident from the minuter cavities having been still filled with that substance.
I do not pretend to account for the phenomena presented by the caverns, yet it is evident, from the sediments of mud forming the extensive margins of the Darling, that at one period the waters of that spacious basin were of much greater volume than at present, and it is more than probable that the caves of Wellington Valley were twice immersed under temporary inundations. I may therefore be permitted to suggest, from the evidence I am about to detail of changes of level on the coast, that the plains of the interior were formerly arms of the sea; and that inundations of greater height have twice penetrated into, or filled with water, the subterraneous cavities, and probably on their recession from higher parts of the land, parts of the surface have been altered and some additional channels of fluviatile drainage hollowed out. The accumulation of animal remains very much broken and filling up hollow parts of the surface show at least that this surface has been modified since it was first inhabited; and these operations appear to have taken place subsequently to the extinction, in that part of Australia, of the species whose remains are found in the breccia; and previously to the existence, in at least the same districts, of the present species.
STATE OF THE BONES.
No entire skeleton has been discovered, and very rarely were any two bones of the same animal found together. On the contrary even the corresponding fragments of a bone were frequently detected some yards apart (as for instance those in Figures 2 and 1 Plate 49).
PUTREFACTION HAD ONLY COMMENCED WHEN FIRST DEPOSITED.
On the other hand it would appear from the position of the teeth in one skull (Figure 4 Plate 48) that they were only falling out from putrefaction at the time the skull was finally deposited in the breccia, and from the nearly natural position of the smaller bones in the foot of a dasyurus (Figure 2 Plate 51) it can scarcely be doubted that this part of the skeleton was imbedded in the cement when the ligaments still bound the bones together. The united radius and ulna of a kangaroo (Figure 1 Plate 51) are additional evidence of the same kind; and yet if the bones have been so separated and dispersed and broken into minute fragments, as they now appear in this breccia, while they were still bound together by ligaments, it is difficult to imagine how that could take place under any natural process with which we are acquainted.
PLATE 51:
FIGURE 1: FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE RADIUS AND ULNA OF A KANGAROO.
FIGURE 2: OF THE FOOT OF A DASYURUS.
FIGURES 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, AND 11: VARIOUS TEETH OF ANIMALS UNKNOWN.
ALL THESE DRAWINGS BEING OF THE NATURAL SIZE.
FIGURES 12 AND 13, REPRESENT, ON A REDUCED SCALE, THE LARGE BONE WHICH M. CUVIER SUPPOSED TO HAVE BELONGED TO A YOUNG ELEPHANT.
ACCOMPANYING MARKS OF DISRUPTION. EARTHY DEPOSITS.
It may however be observed that the breccia is never found below ground without unequivocal proofs in the rocks accompanying it of disruption and subsidence, and that the best specimens of single bones have been found wedged between huge rocks, where the breccia occurs like mortar between them, in situations eight or ten fathoms underground.
THESE PHENOMENA COMPARED WITH OTHER EVIDENCE OF INUNDATION.
That changes have taken place in the relative level of land and sea is evident from the channel of the Glenelg which is worn in the rock to a depth of five fathoms below the sea level. The sea must have either risen, or the earth must have subsided, since that channel was worn by any current of water for it is now as still as a canal, the tide making a difference of only a few inches.
The features on the shores of Port Jackson extend underwater, preserving the same forms as they have above it; while the bays and coves now subject only to the ebb and flow of a tide present extensive ramifications, and can only be considered the submerged valleys of a surface originally scooped out by erosion at a period when the land stood higher above the sea.
SALT LAKES IN THE INTERIOR.
The hills on the margins of the Australian salt lakes are always on the north-east side, or opposite that of the prevailing south-west winds. The formation of these hills is probably due to the action of the wind, the growth and decomposition of small shells, the carbonate of lime disengaged by evaporation, and the concretion of calcareous matter and friable tuff so common in these ridges.
In two of the most remarkable, Mitre Lake and Greenhill Lake, a portion of the basin of each, between the hilly curves and the water, was filled by a dark-coloured perfectly level deposit, apparently of vegetable mould. This being of a quality different from that of the hills, it would appear that any process by which these heights may have originated through the agency of the water adjacent and the wind could not continue after this different formation had accumulated between them. Accordingly where this dark-coloured deposit is most extensive the curved hill concentric with the outer margin seems less perfect; but whether worn by time or sweeping inundations I cannot pretend to say.
That some affinity exists between such accumulations and the salt water in the lakes is the more probable from the present state of those of Cockajemmy, which occur in the bed of a former current, and between the rocky sides of a kind of ravine. Even in such a situation a mound of very firm ground has been formed on the eastern bank of each, and was found very convenient for the passage of the ravine by the carts of the party. (See above.)
In those hills beside salt lakes on the plains a tendency to regular curvature was the chief feature: the relative situation with respect to the water and the wind was always the same; while in some cases, where grassy flats had once been lakes, crescent-shaped green mounds were still apparent on the north-eastern sides of each. If these remains of salt water are of less volume than they have been formerly, as may be presumed from these circumstances; and if the waters according to Professor Faraday's analysis "are solutions of common salt and, except in strength, very much resemble those of the ocean,"* we cannot have much difficulty in believing that the sea deposited the water in these situations at no very remote period.
As a dark-coloured soil is also found in the ridges about some of these lakes we must look deeper for the original cause of such depressions in those extensive plains; and may attribute them either to cavities or protuberances in the lower rocks, which may not have been sufficiently filled or covered by the superincumbent deposits: or they may be due to partial subsidences in a thin stratum of limestone.
CHANGES ON THE SEACOAST. PROOFS THAT THE COAST WAS ONCE HIGHER ABOVE THE SEA THAN IT IS AT PRESENT. PROOFS THAT IT WAS ONCE LOWER. AND OF VIOLENT ACTION OF THE SEA.
The sea, probably when higher relatively to the land than it is at present, appears to have acted with some violence in isolating various points along the eastern coast; most of which we now find curiously analogous, in their situation on the southern sides of inlets, and in being now united to the mainland by mounds of sand.
AT WOLLONGONG.
The point of Wollongong was formerly an island and is now only connected by drifted sandhills with the site of the township.
CAPE SOLANDER.
Cape Solander, the south head of Botany Bay, on which Captain Cook first landed, was evidently once an island though at present connected with the mainland by the neck of sand which separates Botany Bay from Port Hacking.
PORT JACKSON.
The south head of Port Jackson has also been isolated but is again connected with the shore of Bellevue between Bondi Bay and Rose Bay, by drifted hills of sand. The north head appears to have been likewise isolated.
BROKEN BAY.
Barrenjoey, the south head of Broken Bay, is connected only by a low beach of sand.
NEWCASTLE.
The Beacon head of Newcastle was once an island; and the drifted sand forming the hills on which the town is built has since been thrown up by the sea.
TUGGERAH BEACH.
Brisbane Water, Tuggerah beach, and Lake Macquarie are also striking proofs of change of the same character as those at Port Jackson, especially as they occur in a country possessing no inland lakes, and along a coastline which is very even and straight in other respects.
BASS STRAIT.
The line of rocky islets extending across Bass Strait seems to be the remains of land once continuous between the two shores, probably when the current was still active in the channel of the Glenelg, and before the sea had penetrated far within the heads of Port Jackson.
ROCKS IN BASS STRAIT:
1. PYRAMID ROCK BEARING EAST DISTANT 3 MILES.
2. ROCK OF GRANITE BEARING EAST BY NORTH.
Thus it would appear that the Australian continent bears marks of various changes in the relative height of the sea; on its shores and in the interior; and that the waters have been at some periods much higher and at another period lower with respect to the land than they are at present.
(
APPENDIX 2.1.
VOCABULARY OF WORDS HAVING THE SAME MEANING IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF AUSTRALIA.
APPENDIX 2.2.
METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT DURING THE JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1836.)