394 Transactions. — Geology. 



reviews the whole history of the Waitemata beds from the 

 time of Hochstetter up to that date. He criticizes Mr. 

 McKay's work at some length, and disposes of the supposed 

 unconformity at the Parnell grit. He also shows that no 

 evidence had been adduced to prove that the Parnell grit was 

 superior to the Orakei Bay beds, or that the latter were the 

 horizontal equivalents of the Fort Britomart beds.* 



In the beginning of 1885 I was directed to revise Mr. Cox's 

 work around Auckland and at the Kaipara, and commenced 

 by making a detailed examination of the fine natural section 

 exposed on the coast from Auckland to the Maraetai Range. 

 Previous to this date fossils had only been found at Orakei 

 Bay and Lake Takapuna ; but during the progress of this 

 survey I succeeded in discovering eleven new localities, where 

 exhaustive collections were made, and from the facts disclosed 

 by these, and a large amount of new stratigraphical evidence, 

 I arrived at the following conclusions : — 



1. That the Manukau volcanic breccias and tuffs are un- 

 conformable to the Waitemata series. 



2. That the Parnell grits are under the Fort Britomart 

 beds. 



3. That the Parnell grits are the equivalents of the 

 Takapuna breccias and grits. 



4. That the Orakei Bay beds are equivalent to the 

 Turanga greensands. 



5. That the Turanga greensands are equivalent to the 

 concretionary sandstone at Tamahua, near Cape Rodney. 



6. That there is a direct sequence from the Fort Britomart 

 beds to the Papakura limestone. 



7. That the Papakura limestone is the base of the Waite- 

 mata series, and equivalent to the Cape Eodney calcareous 

 slate-grit. 



8. That the Waitemata series is unconformable to the 

 chalk-marls and coal-measures. f 



I will briefly refer to the above points in detail. 



1. With regard to the Manukau breccias, I am now in- 

 clined to think that I was wrong in separating them from the 

 Waitemata series, my work at Komiti Point in 1886 tending 

 to show that they originated during submarine volcanic out- 

 bursts of an intense character, some time during the deposition 

 of the Orakei Bay beds, most probably at the horizon of the 

 Parnell grit and Takapuna ash-bed. At Komiti Peninsula, 

 and further north, on the Wairoa, marine beds, containing the 

 characteristic fossils of the Orakei Bay horizon, are interbedded 

 with heavy deposits of volcanic breccias, tufas, and agglo- 



* " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," vol. xvii., p. 313. 

 t " Geological Reports," 1885, p. 158. 



