Park. — On the Jurassic Age of the Maitai Series. 437 



"to the north-west of the boundary-line the strike and dip of 

 the beds are regular in such a direction that the beds appear 

 to pass under the older beds" [Maitai beds] "lying to the east- 

 ward."* For "older beds" he should have written "sup- 

 posed older beds." 



Here again Mr. McKay attempts to explain away the very 

 plain stratigraphical evidence in the following words : — 



" It is highly probable that what are now the higher beds, 

 as seen in the section along the banks of the creek, are in 

 reality the lower beds, and that they are now in an over- 

 turned position."! Thus, while correctly noting and recording 

 the stratigraphical evidence, which shows the mferior position 

 of the Wairoa formation in all the sections examined, in order 

 to support the theory that the Maitai formation is older than 

 the Wairoa formation he assumes that the combined strata 

 of both formations, representing a thickness of 7,000 ft. or 

 8,000 ft., have been completely overturned ; and, having thus 

 overturned the formations, argues that the Maitai formation, 

 which everywhere admittedly occupies the superior strati 

 graphical position, is Carboniferous, and the inferior or under 

 lying formation Triassic. 



The gritty, pebbly, calcareous sandstones and claystones 

 immediately overlying the upper granitic conglomerate in 

 Well's Creek section are seen to dip under the Maitai rocks. 

 They contain a large assemblage of fossils, mostly brachiopods, 

 and, although they occur at the top of the Trias series, they 

 become by the process of inversion the bottom beds, and have 

 been referred by Mr. McKay to the Permian. Disregarding, 

 however, this supposititious inversion of the formations, and 

 reading the sections as they appear, the sequence of the 

 Trias rocks in the different sections is found to be approxi- 

 mately the same as would naturally be expected in lines of 

 section across the same basin of deposition. 



In the Wairoa section the beds m descending order are as 

 follows : — 



0. Fossiliferous limestone (Maitai — i.e., Wairoa — lime- 



stone). 



1. Claystones. 



2. Upper granite conglomerate. 



3. Mytilus sandstones and claystones. 



4. Spirigcra sandstones. 



5. Mytilus sandstones. 



6. Monotis sandstones. 



7. Spirigera and Trigonia sandstones. 



8. Lower granite conglomerate. 



* Reps. Geol. ExpL, 1878-79, p. 118. 

 t L.c, p. 118. 



