2. It is equally evident that the bones in question have been brought to their present locality by some beast of prey; for no other supposition will account for the cavern's becoming the general cemetery for animals so various in size, and so different in habits, as those to which they must have once belonged.

3. It is not less evident that the animals that owned these bones could not have died a natural death, for most of them have evidently been subjected to great violence, and exhibit fractures in every direction. The floor of the cavern is strewed over with a sort of dust, consisting of minute fragments of decomposed bone, which burns readily when ignited.

In short, there is reason to believe that the cave at Wellington Valley is somewhat similar to the one which Professor Buckland examined at Kirkdale, in the north of England, and which he ascertained, beyond the possibility of doubt, to have been the den of a hyæna (resembling the variety now existing only at the southern extremity of Africa) before the deluge. Both of these caves are in limestone ranges. They both contain innumerable fragments of fossil bone, deeply imbedded in stalagmite—the substance formed from the droppings of water in caverns of the kind in question-or in indurated clay. I cannot pretend, however, to describe either the nature or the relative position of the substance in which the bones at Wellington Valley are imbedded, having only seen a minute portion of it adhering to one of the bones.

From these ascertained facts, I conceive we are warranted to deduce the following inferences :—

1. That this vast island is not of recent or post-diluvian formation, as is generally asserted, without the least shadow of evidence.

2. That at some former period of its history it was inhabited by various races of animals, that are either extinct or no longer existing in this part of the world.

3. That the physical convulsion that destroyed these various races of animals did not materially change the external appearance of the country; for the wild beasts' (probably the hyænas') den at Wellington Valley has in all likelihood the very same appearance that it had when inhabitated upwards of four thou sand years ago.

While this very interesting discovery supplies us, therefore, with another convincing proof of the reality and the universality of the deluge, it supplies us also with a powerful motive of gratitude to Divine Providence for that long-forgotten visitation. For if this territory were over-run with such beasts of prey as the antediluvian inhabitants of the cave at Wellington Valley, it would not have been so eligible a place for the residence of man as it actually is. The tiger or hyæna would have been a much more formidable enemy to the Bathurst settler than the despicable native dog, though indeed they would certainly have afforded a much nobler game to the gentlemen of the Bathurst Hunt. And if the huge rhinoceros had inhabited the lagoons of Hunter's River, it might have been a much more serious work to displace him to, than shoot the pelican or emu.

I cannot conclude this letter without expressing my unfeigned regret that, while this territory is becoming daily more and more interesting to the geographer and geologist, to the man of science as well as to the agriculturist and the merchant, the interesting youth of Australia should hitherto have been debarred, in consequence of their want of instruction in the various branches of Natural History and Natural Philosophy, from prosecuting the numerous and interesting paths of discovery which this vast island presents to every man of science and reseach. Could a Lecturer not be established in Sydney under the patronage of the Sydney College? There are surely men in this Colony not less able than our brethren in Van Dieman's Land, to give a course of Lectures that would interest, instruct, and stimulate the youth of Australia. I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant,

L.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SYDNEY GAZETTE.

Additional Information illustrative of the Natural History of the Australian Bone-Caves and Osseous Breccia. Communicated by Dr. LANG.

THESE bones are found embedded in a red ochreous cement, which occurs partially in the crevices of the limestone rock, in different parts of the interior of New South Wales.

The limestone rests on granite, and generally near, or under, trap-rock. In the particular spot whence these specimens are brought (Wellington Valley), the rock, partially denuded, bounds an extensive alluvial flat, through which the River Bell runs, this being a branch of the river Macquarrie, which it joins seven miles below. Beyond, or above the limestone, on one side, the hills enclosing the valley consist entirely of traprock. Those on the other rise higher, and consist of the old red sandstone (fine grained, with tendency to crystallization), and passing, as the hills rise backward, into a conglomerate of water-worn pebbles strongly cemented, and so much inclined, that the rock terminates the summits in sharp rocky crests.

Throughout the country, the limestone occurs adjoining alluvial flats, the hills above consisting of trap. In the parts most denuded, openings are found leading to caves, some of which are spacious, with varied forms of stalactites, sometimes disposed in a very picturesque manner. The floor generally consists of a soft red earth, apparently diluvial, but in which, after digging, few or no bones have been found, none having as yet been dug up where the floor has been encrusted with stalagmite. The entrance is generally in the side of the rock and gently inclined. The holes where the osseous breccia occurs are generally near such caves, yet separate from them; the mouths (in three cases in different parts of the country) appearing like pits, and as if formed by the rocks and earth sinking or sliding downwards. The interior of these holes presents a striking contrast to the unbroken harmony of the other kind of caves. Here disjointed masses of rock harg suspended in this remarkable red cement, which is sometimes as hard as limestone, and which is never without bones embedded. Frequently these occur so fixed between large rocks, that it is quite impossible to get them out; and indeed, in general, none can be got in an entire state from the matrix, being, in their embedded state, full of fractures; and it is remarkable, that the few large bones at all perfect, have been found projecting from the upper surface of the breccia; from which circumstance, and the peculiar outward texture (something resembling the clay of a swallow's nest), it would appear that this cement never was so soft since mixed with the bones, as to admit of the larger bones sinking downwards in it, In such

caves the red cement with bones pervades all the crevices as far as they can be penetrated, which is generally very directly downwards. One chamber of the cave, whence these specimens have been taken, was terminated by the cavity being stopped up with soft diluvial earth, while the breccia formed the roof, and adhered to the limestone rock forming the sides, and appeared separated from the loose earth of the lower part by three layers (like strata) of limestone, about an inch in thickness, and three inches apart between, and in which the bones were in greatest abundance, and generally upright, or having one end in each layer.

The peculiar texture of the cement, led to a search for it on other parts of the surface above limestone, and in other parts of the country, and it was found precisely under the same circumstances as at Wellington Valley.

1. Six miles north-east, on the opposite side of the Macquarrie.

2. At Buree, fifty miles south-east; and, on looking at some denuded limestone-rock similarly situated in another place (Molong), a small quantity was also detected in a crevice like an oven; which also when broken contained small bones.

The most remarkable facts connected with these bones, and this breccia, seem to be,

1st, That it occurs only in the neighbourhood of caves, but yet distinct from those of the most open and permanent descrip

tion.

2dly, That although always reaching to the surface, it is distributed deeply and extensively in the crevices of the limestone. 3dly, That this particular substance never occurs, but in combination with bony fragments; that bones occur in such quantity in this cement only; that those of small and large animals are intimately mixed; and that, although much broken, there is no appearance of their being water-worn, but that, on the contrary, small angular fragments of bone like saw-dust are combined in such quantity in some caves, as to give a light speckled colour to the cement, which is, by itself, red and

ochreous.

4thly, That in one case, where this cement was traced to the surface, a large fragment or rock of it, as hard as limestone,

lay above, having deeply embedded in it several bones apparently human; this rock indicating an antiquity almost as high as the limestone rock itself, for the breccia is so combined in parts, that its removal would occasion the rocks to collapse, so as materially to alter the external surface and form of the hills.

It is proper to add, that some fragments of bones have been found by digging in the loose earth of most of the caves, but from their imperfect state, and the vicinity of the breccia outside, it is difficult to determine whether they might not have originally belonged to it or not.

It appears from the description by Major Imrie, of the red ochreous cement containing bones which occurs at Gibraltar, and along the northern shores of the Mediterranean, that this breccia is of the same kind both in situ and character, and that its antiquity is at least equal to, if not much higher, than the bones found under stalagmite in caves, in different parts of Europe.

Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr GRAHAM, Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh.

Banksia littoralis.

10th March 1831.

B. littoralis; foliis elongato-linearibus, spinuloso-dentatis, basi attenuatis, subtus aveniis; calycibus deciduis; folliculis compressis bracteisque strobuli apice tomentosis; caule arboreo, ramulis tomentosis.—

Brown.

Banksia littoralis, Br. in Linn. Soc. Trans. 10. 204. ?—Id. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 392. ?—Rom. et Schultes, 3. 438 ?—Sprengel, Syst. Veget. 1. 485.? excl. syn.-Bot. Reg. 1363.

DESCRIPTION.-Shrub erect. Branches ascending, purple, villous. Leaves scattered, pubescent when young, naked and dark green above when old, densely covered with snowy tomentum below, on short erect petioles, linear, truncated, spinuloso-serrate, avenous, slightly revolute in the edges. Amentum (4 inches long, 3 inches broad to the extremity of the styles) terminal, upon a short leafy peduncle, the branches rising far above it from a whorl at its base. Flowers in pairs, forming double rather distant lines along the rachis, with which, when fully expanded, they form nearly right angles, expanding from above downwards. Brac tea tomentous, green where exposed, yellow where included, either solitary, rhomboid, subacute, with the apex turned up, when they are

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