884 Transactions. — Geology. 



palaeontological difficulty by supposing that tlie two faunas 

 are of the same age, but that the Oaniaru fauna represents 

 the shallow seas, and the Waipara fauna the deep seas. But 

 he adds, " How far this theory will meet the stratigraphical 

 and pakeontological difficulties of the case, considering that 

 both of these beds are found to exist in the same areas, I do 

 not propose to discuss in this report " (" Eep. Geol. Exp.," 

 1887-88, p. 28). With reference to this theory I may remark 

 that if it were the true explanation the terrestrial or shallow- 

 water coal-beds ought always to be followed by the Oamaru 

 fauna, and this by the Waipara fauna, which is never the 

 case. On the contrary, the coals at the Waipara are followed 

 by the Waipara fauna, and this by the Oamaru fauna. If we 

 reverse the case, and suppose the Oamaru fauna to be that of 

 the deep sea, we are no better off, for it succeeds the coal at 

 Kawakawa, Whangarei, and other places without the inter- 

 vention of the supposed shallow-water Waipara fauna. Also, 

 if the two were contemporaneous we ought surely to find 

 them mixed somewhere. They could not have been separated 

 by a broad belt of uninhabited sea-bottom ; nor by a land- 

 barrier, for they are both found on the same side of mountains 

 which were in existence before the faunas. Again, as both 

 faunas occur in glauconitic greensands, &c., we cannot sup- 

 pose that there was any great difference in the depth of the 

 seas in which they lived ; and this is confirmed by the oc- 

 currence of both fa.unas high up in valleys denuded out of 

 Palaeozoic and old Mesozoic rocks, which, as they now form 

 high mountains, must at the time have formed neighbouring 

 shore-lines. 



But the pakeontological difficulties do not end here. At 

 Wailiao Forks, in South Canterbury, the coal is overlain by 

 greensands, which contain a third fauna, quite distinct from the 

 other two, and which is admitted by the officers of the Geo- 

 logical Survey to be closely related to the Pareora (Miocene) 

 fauna. A list of this Waihao fauna, which 1 think to be 

 identical with the Pareora fauna, will be found in the "' Trans.. 

 N.Z. Inst.," vol. xix., p. 481, and n:iore fully in " Proc. Lin. Soc. 

 N.S. Wales,'' series 2, vol. i., p. 205. It includes Aturia 

 ziczac, two species of Ancillaria, and Pccten hochstettcri, which 

 is found in both the Oamaru and Pareora series. I do not 

 know to what zone of depth the Survey relegates this fauna : 

 but, as it is found in sandy beds, like the others, the difference 

 can hardly be due to station ; and, as it is also found over 

 the coal "in the Mokau Valley ("Eep. Geol. Exp.," 1886-87, 

 p. 4G), it cannot be due to locality. I have heard it vaguely 

 suggested that the Pareora (Miocene) fauna is a recurrence of 

 the more ancient Waihao (Cretaceous) fauna, similar tO' 

 Barrande's Colonies, previously mentioned. This hypothesis 



