HuTTON. — Oil the Ayes of the N.Z. Coaljicldn. 383 



Next, as to the explanations offered by the Survey of this 

 supposed palasontological anomaly of two distinct faunas 

 belonging to the same period, and inhabiting the same 

 geographical area : On this subject Sir James Hector says, 

 " It thus appears from the foregoing that the land-surface pre- 

 ceding the great depression during Cretaceo-tertiary times 

 survived to a later date in the north than in the south of New 

 Zealand, the beds overlying the coals in the north being 

 generally of younger Cretaceous age" {I.e., p. 62). From this 

 I infer that he considers the Oamaru series, with its coals, to 

 be younger than the Waipara series, with its coals. So far, of 

 com-se, I agi-ee, as it is directly opposed to the idea that the 

 hydraulic limestone is the same as the Amuri limestone, and 

 as it supposes that where the hydraulic limestone lies 

 directly on the Waipara series (as in the Waitangi Valley) 

 the whole of the lower part of the Oamaru series is absent. 

 This explanation of the Director agrees with mine ; but 

 when Sir James Hector says that both these series belong 

 to one period I can no longer follow him. The difference 

 between the Waipara and Oamaru faunas is probably as great 

 as, if not greater than, the difference between the Oamaru 

 fauna and that of the present day, and the two could hardly 

 be kept in one formation even if it were certain that they 

 formed an unbroken stratigraphical sequence. But if this were 

 the case w^e should expect to find in the beds now upraised a 

 gradation from one fauna into the other ; for, even if we sup- 

 pose the Oamaru fauna to have been suddenly introduced by 

 immigration, still it must have mingled with the older fauna 

 before replacing it. This is well shown in the Pareora (Mio- 

 cene) fauna, the older and younger portions of which differ 

 much ; but the species are so intermingled in the middle 

 portion that no palseontological break occurs. The acknow- 

 ledged existence of a great palaeontological break between the 

 Waipara and Oamaru faunas seems to me to imply, although 

 it does not necessitate, a stratigraphical break also, and I have 

 elsewhere said that I think there is evidence of this. The 

 fact of the Waipara series covering so small an area in com- 

 parison with the Oamaru series, although the former occurs 

 far up the valleys of the W^aimakariri, Waipara, and Clarence, 

 is very suggestive of extensive denudation before the deposi- 

 tion of the Oamaru series, while the relative positions of the 

 two series show that it is not a mere case of overlap. Again, 

 it is not only the coal in the north which is covered by the 

 younger series — the same is seen near Nelson and in Otago ; 

 and the discovery of the Waipara series at the Bay of Islands 

 and Hokianga has made some modification of this theorv 

 necessary. 



According to Mr. Park, an attempt is made to explain the 



