314 Transactions. — Geology. 



which drains a large swampy valley near the Eaukawa 

 Station, and I am in hopes that some day a large deposit of 

 bones may be found there. 



Away up the Tutaekuri Eiver is a large tributary called 

 the Mangalione. Here one of our members, Mr. Taylor White, 

 has found some more or less perfect bones. Still further up 

 the same river, at Glenross, Mr. Balfour has sent us down moa- 

 cropstones and bones of kiwi and moa. Several bones have 

 been picked up from time to time in the bed of the Petane 

 Eiver, and a femur and two or three vertebrae were dug from a 

 small swamp close by the Petane School. 



One rather interesting find was a tibia found by me Just at 

 the edge of the bush at Takapau. The bone was in the bed 

 of a small creek, and, though in good preservation, one-half 

 was thickly covered with moss. 



With the exception of the last-mentioned and the bones 

 from the Poutou Creek, all the bones recorded w^ere too im- 

 perfect to be of much use ; but, fortunately, others have been 

 found in a most exceptional state of preservation and of great 

 scientific interest. One day I was shown a very fine tibia 

 which had been found at Patangata : this was in the posses- 

 sion of a gentleman at Waipawa. I then saw an equally good 

 one in the possession of our President from the same neigh- 

 bourhood, and on further inquiry heard that a large number 

 of bones had been found during the works which were being 

 carried out for the drainage of the Te Ante Lake. The Eev. 

 S. Williams (now Archdeacon of Hawke's Bay) very kindly 

 allowed me to examine the bones which had been preserved, 

 which I found indicated the occurrence of a large number of 

 moas, many of them of gigantic size, the length of one tibia 

 being 37|^in., only a trifle short of the largest specimen hitherto 

 recorded. During the last summer the progress of the great 

 drain enabled me to examine the locality carefully, and, through 

 the courtesy and kindness of the Eev. S. Williams and Mr. 

 Allan Williams, I was able to secure a most interesting collec- 

 tion of bones, some of which are now before you. The spot 

 where the bones were found is at tlie south-east end of the large 

 tract of swampy land which sm-rounds the lake. The over- 

 flow from this area, which was frequently flooded to a con- 

 siderable depth by a channel cut by the Waipawa Eiver, was 

 carried off by a small creek or stream which rejoined the main 

 river at Patangata. A deep channel was blasted through a 

 bar of limestone rock which formed the end of a low ridge of 

 hills forming the eastern boundary of the swamp. By lowering 

 this outfall and cutting a great drain nearly two miles long, 

 the whole of the swamp has become passable, and will shortly 

 be carrying a very large number of cattle and sheep. 



Mr. Allan Williams kindly took me to the drain, and the 



