Oamarú System.

In the North Island this system occurs in many places north of Auckland and all down the west coast from Port Waíkato to Mokau page 207 (Aotéa Series). On the east coast it appears to be largely developed in the northern part, of Hawke's Bay, extending inland to Lake Waikaremoana ^*. and eastward to Poverty Bay (Turanganúi Series); but the fossils require more examination before the proper position of this series can be ascertained. In the Wellington Province it has only been recognized in the neighbourhood of Cape Palliser ^† Valuable seams of coal lie conformably below marine sandstones belonging to this system at the Bay of Islands, and at Whangarei. The coal-beds of Drury and the Waíkato underlie the system unconformably, but they probably belong to it ^‡.

In the South Island it occurs at Tákaka and Tata Island in Golden Bay, and extends down the west coast for some distance from Cape Farewell; it is found again from Cape Foulwind to Greymouth. On the east side of the island, commencing at Cook's Straits, it occurs at intervals along the eastern flanks of the mountains all through Marlborough, Canterbury, Otágo, and Southland to the Wniau river. Some of the inland valleys on both sides of the Alps are also partly filled with rocks belonging to this system. Valuable seams of brown coal are found at Dunedin, Tokomairíro, Kaitangáta, and Nightcap Hills in Southland. In Nelson Province the brown coals of West Wanganúi probably belong here, as also may much of the brown coal up the Buller river.

I have, in another communication to the Society ^§, given my reasons for thinking that this system is unconformable to the Waípara System in the northern part of Canterbury. No well-defined junction is found in Otágo: but both at the Horse Ranges and at Mt. Hamilton (fig. 3, f and g), the general geological structure of the country leaves no doubt that the two are also unconformable there^‖. There is no published section showing the relation between the two systems at Greymouth. The system attains an elevation of about 4000 feet in the North Island, east of Lake Waikaremoana. In the South Island it probably never exceeds 2500 feet.

Remains of Cetaceans have been found at Caversham^¶, near Dunedin, at Weka Pass, and many other places. A Zeuglodont (Kehenodon onemata, Hector ^**) has been found at the Waítaki. A gigantic penguin (Palœeudyptes antarcticus, Huxley^††), occurs at Oamaru in the Ototara building-stone; a splendid specimen from here is in the Otágo Museum; also at the Curiosity Shop on the Rakaia River, at Trelissick Basin, at Amúri Bluff, and near Brighton on the west coast^‡‡‡‡. A crab (Harpactocarcinus tumidus, H. Wood-

^* Cox, Reports of Geological Survey, 1874-6, p. 102.

^† McKay, Rep. Geol. Surv. 1878-9, p. 80.

^‡ Trans. N. Z. Institute, iii. p. 244.

^§ "On the Geological Relations of the Weka-pass Stone."

^‖ Geology of Otago, p. 50.

^¶ Including a skull in the Otago Museum.

^** Trans. N. Z. Institute, vol. xiii. p. 435.

^†† Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. iii. p. 509; and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. xv. p. 670 (1859).

^‡‡ Hector, Trans. N. Z. Inst. iv. p. 341.

page 208 ward), originally obtained by Mr. McKay near Brighton^*, has also been found in greensands at Wharekauri in the Waítaki ^†.

Of the Mollusca, the most interesting are Aturia ziczac, Sow., var. australis, McCoy, Mitra, Marginella, Struthiolaria senex,. Hutton, and Pholaclomya. About 9 or 10 per cent, of the species appear to be recent. The Echinodermata have been considered to have a Cretaceous facies, and this is to some extent true if they are compared with European forms; but it is not true if the comparison be made, as it ought to be, with the Australian Echinodermata.

The occurrence of Nummulites has been reported in the North Island from Waipu ^‡, Lower Waíkato ^§, Poverty Bay and the East Cape district ^‖, and from the east coast of Wellington^¶. In the South Island, from the Greymouth district^**, and between Westport and Cape Foulwind ^††. But I doubt much if any true Nummulite has ever been found in New Zealand. At any rate I have never seen one, although I have been shown the so-called Nummulites in the Wellington Museum.

Unger has described in the 'Reise der Novara,' several leaves belonging to the genera Fagus, Loranthophyllum, Myrtifolium, and Phyllites, brought by Dr. von Hochstetter from Drury and Waíkato. In the same publication, Dr. Zittel has described Mollusca and Echinodermata from Papakura, Waíkato South Head, Motupípi, and Cape Farewell, all of which belong to this system. The Foraminifcra of Raglan (=Waingaróa) are described by Dr. Stache. Other Bryozoa, Foraminifera, and Entomostraca from the Ototara Limestone are mentioned by Dr. Mantell ^‡‡, and some corals and Bryozoa are described by the Rev. Tenison-Woods ^§§.

Pecten Hochstetteri, Zittel, and P. Ziltelli, Hutton, are also characteristic, but they both pass up into the Pareóra System.