MOORE PLANT- AND INSECT-BED. 233
preserved to be separated from the matrix. In addition to these,
there is what appears to be a seed-vessel, of an oval shape, whilst
the impressions of what are probably other seeds are to be detected
on the laminae of the marl.
Mr. Carruthers, of the British Museum, who has been kind enough to examine the specimens, thinks it undesirable, as they are not quite perfect, to assign them a place or generic position, without further examples ; but he states that they are probably of Tertiary age, although similar dicotyledonous leaves occur in the Secondary rocks of North America, and also, though more rarely, in those of Europe.
It was my intention (having observed these specimens) to remark on the probability of finding fossil insects in association with these plants, and to advise my Australian friends to keep a look-out for them. Subsequently, however, by a closer examination of the marl itself, I had the pleasure of detecting their existence in it, and of obtaining evidence of the presence of the earliest known fossil insects in Australia. The first which attracted my attention was a small, black, shining, highly ornamented elytron of a beetle, partly concealed in the matrix ; but in endeavouring to uncover it, the specimen sprang out bodily, and proved too brittle to be preserved. Ten other insects were after-wards obtained from the same block. The most abundant belong to the Coleoptera, both double and single elytra being present, some of them having the punctate striae well preserved. There are single specimens which may belong to Cyphon, and also a minute annulose body which may be a larva.
As some of these insects are very small, it will be undesirable at this time to do more than record their presence in the Australian Tertiary deposits, leaving their description until a larger series shall have been obtained. There can be no doubt, from the apparent abundance of both plants and insects, that a rich harvest awaits those palaeontologists who will give attention to these interesting beds.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVIII. Figs. 2-11.
2-9. Remains of Coleoptera, from New South Wales.
10. Larva, probably of Oxytelis, from New South Wales.
11. Insect, probably allied to Cydnus, from New South Wales.
VOL. XXVI.— PART I.
