Speight. — Note on a Dyke at Nugget Point. 477 



soon springs up, and assists to preserve the bones. Large 

 broadleaf-trees moi-e than 2 ft. in diameter are growing over 

 the bones in some places. 



A large number of the bones that I was able to dig up were 

 broken, which is probably accounted for by the rooting of wild 

 pigs in former days and by the rooting of domestic pigs at 

 the present time, as the space between the rocks and the 

 clilf is utilised as a large pig-paddock. 



I dug for bones on the afternoon of one day and the morn- 

 ing of the next, and altogether brought back about a thousand 

 specimens, the result of the examination of which is given 

 below. 



I am much indebted to Mr. McCuUoch for his hearty as- 

 sistance, and to the Rev. Mr. Standring for information con- 

 cerning the locality. 



Corvus moriorum (right and Anas finschii. 



left metatarsi). Gnemiornis. 



Notornis hccJistetteri. Harpagornis. 



Ftdica prisca. Oarpophaga. 



Aptornis. Ocydromus. 



Apteryx (two sp.). 



And bones of a few small birds not yet worked out. 



Akt. XL. — Note on a Dyke at Nugget Point. 



By R. Speight, M.A., B.Sc. 



{Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, -ith November^ 



1903.] 



This dyke is mentioned by Captain Hutton in the " Geology 

 of Otago," pages 41 and 42, and also by the Geological 

 Survey in several reports on the district. My attention 

 was drawn to it during a visit to Nugget Point in January^ 

 1903. On examining hand-specimens subsequently one or 

 two features of the rock attracted my notice. It belongs to a 

 division of the syenite group not common in New Zealand— 

 viz., feldspar porphyry. This is evident from the inspection 

 of hand-specimens. The porphyritic feldspars constitute the 

 bulk of the rock, the size of the crystals ranging up to 5 mm. 

 in length. They show the characteristic shapes due to 

 pinacoidal cleavages, and from the absence of twin striation 

 they are most probably to be classed as orthoclase. This 

 is confirmed by tiame tests. No other porphyritic mineral 

 could be observed in a macroscopic examination, but a number 

 of inclusions of foreign material occur. These I took at first 

 for altered feldspars, but I believe they have been caught up 



