Pakk. — The Lower Mesozoic Bocks of New Zealand. 395 



these beds with the Halobia and Spiriferina beds of Nelson, 

 Nugget Point, and Southland. 



Sir Julius von Haast collected from the Mount Potts beds 

 m 1861 and in 1872, and in both his report of 1872* and 

 " Geology of Canterbury and Westland," 1879, p. 272, enu- 

 merates the "following genera and probably species" which 

 he says were identified by the late Professor McCoy : Orthis 

 apinigera, Spirifera lineata, S. lata, S. oviforviis, S. duodecimo- 

 costata, Prodncta, Atrypa, E^iomp)hala, Murchisonia, Ortho- 

 ceras, and Encrinites, forms which characterize the Carboni- 

 ferous coalfields of New South Wales. 



In 1877 Mr. McKay made a large collection of fossils at 

 Rocky Gully, t but, curiously enough, his collection contained, 

 he said, no Orthis, Productus, Atrypa, or Euomphahis ; and 

 Sir James Hector, in commenting on the age of the Mount 

 Potts beds, says that Mr. McKay's collection contained no 

 true Spirifera, the spirifer-like forms being all Spiriferina.\ 



The fossils collected by myself at Rocky Gully in the early 

 part of this year seemed to agree with the identifications of 

 the Geological Survey rather than with those of Professor 

 McCoy. 



The saurian remains seem to make the matter no clearer. 

 From the bone bed with the shell beds Von Haast collected a 

 number of saurian bones, some of which he thought resembled 

 " the vertebrae of ganocephalous reptiles of the Cai'boniferous 

 period ;§ as, for instance, those of Denroerpeton, Hylonomus, 

 &c." Among these vertebrae Sir James Hector found one 

 which he thought belonged to an Ichthyosaunis, which he 

 named I. australis.\\ 



Sir Julius von Haast, however, subsequently challenged 

 this identification, saying, " I fail to see any resemblance 

 between the vertebrae and those of Ichthyosaurus."^ 



Mr. McKay, in his " Report relative to the Collection of 

 Fossils from the Mount Potts Spirifer Beds," in 1878, says, 

 " Among the additions contained in this new collection vsere 

 portions of ribs and a vertebral centrum, evidently reptilian in 

 character, which, closely resembling the vertebrae of Ichthyo- 

 saurus in general outline, was described as I. austraiis by 

 Dr. Hector, who at the same time referred the beds to the 

 Triassic period."''"'' 



Again in 1890, when discussing the relative age of the 



* Reps. Geol. ExpL, 1872-73. p. 6. 



t Reps. Geol. Expl , 1877-78, p. 94. 



J Reps. Geol. Expl., 1885, p. xxvi. 



§ Haast, " Geology of Canterbury and Westland," 1879, p. 272. 



II Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. vi., p. 331. 



11 Haast, " Geology of Canterbury and Westland," 1879, p. 272. 



** Reps. Geol. Expl., 1877-78, p. 105. 



