432 TrnJimctions. — Geology. 



placed the Maitai series at the base of the Trias, between 

 the Wairoa and Kaihiku series. 



The kite Mr. E. H. Davis, in his very excellent report on 

 the geology of Nelson District, referred to the Maitai series as 

 TriassiC'' In the limestones at the base of the series he found 

 Inoceramiis and corals ; and in the slates above the lime- 

 stone numerous annnelid trails, Inoceramiis in gi'eat numbers, 

 a cast of a cephalopod, and casts of fossils not determined. 



Captain Hutton, F.R.S., in his " Eeport on the North-east 

 Portion of the South Island," in 1873, reversed the relative 

 positions of the Maitai and Wairoa formations : thus, while 

 the Wairoa series is still retained in the Trias, the Maitai 

 series, on palseontological and stratigraphical grounds, is placed 

 In the Jurassic system.! 



In the same year Sir James Hector examined the sections 

 exposed in the Wairoa Gorge, and in his Progress Report 

 states that in his opinion the Wairoa formation — that is, the 

 Richmond sandstone of Hochstetter — rests unconformablv 

 upon the Maitai formation, and accordingly reverses the order 

 of superposition proposed by Captain Hutton. He still retains 

 the Wairoa formation in the Trias, and now relegates the 

 Maitai formation to the Upper Palaeozoic, placing it below his 

 Te Anau series.]; 



In his classification of 1877 the Maitai formation is placed 

 by Sir James Hector in the Periro-carboniferous period in 

 association with the Nuggets and Mount Potts beds;§ and 

 in his classification of 1878 it is pushed down into the 

 Carboniferous. II 



Mr. A. McKay, F.G.S., in the year 1878, examined the 

 lines of section detailed so minutely by Mr. Davis in 1869, and 

 at the same time extended his observations to the neighbour- 

 hood of the Wairoa Gorge and Mount Heslington. In his 

 report he adopts the classification of the Director of the Geo- 

 logical Survey for tlie Wairoa and Maitai formations, but, 

 unhke previous observers, places the Maitai limestone at the 

 top instead of at the base of that series, and supports this 

 view by stating that he considers the Maitai formation to be 

 overturned. 



In the following year Mr. McKay made a further examina- 

 tion of the Wairoa and INIount Heslington districts, and, 

 besides making large collections of fossils from the Maitai and 

 Wairoa formations at dil'feient points, discovered what he 



• Heps. Geol. ExpL, 1869-71, p. 103. 

 t Reps. Geol. Expl., 1873-74, p. 34. 



I Geological Map, Hector, 1873 ; and Reps. Geol. Expl., 187(3-77, p. 1. 

 § Reps. Geol. Expl., 1876-77, p. v. 



II Repa. Geol. Expl., 1877-78, p 198. 



