828 Transactions. — Geology. 



On the 27th November, 1876, Mr. S. Percy Smith read a 

 paper to the Auckland Institute called a " Sketch of the Geology 

 of the Northern Portion of Hawke's Bay," (" Trans. N.Z. Inst.," 

 vol. ix., p. 565,) in which he makes the sandstone of Scinde 

 Island and the Napier limestone to be the same as the Petane 

 beds. He also gives a list of fossils from the different beds. 



In March, 1876, Mr. S. H. Cox examined the country,* and 

 stated that the Napier limestone underlaid the Petane beds at 

 Scinde Island, and that it was the equivalent of the Pohui lime- 

 stone at Te Waka, on the Taupo Eoad. He says : " At Scinde 

 Island, Napier, where the typical development of these beds 

 [Napier limestone, etc.,] occur, they are forming a low anticline, 

 dipping on the sea-face, S. 10°, but on the harbour side N.W. 

 25° " [I.e., p. 100). He considered that all the tertiary beds 

 belonged to one series, without any uncomformity between 

 them. 



Dr. Hector, in his Progress Eeport for the same year, says 

 that the fossils from the Petane series " seem to place them in 

 the same horizon as the Upper Wanganui beds" (I.e., p. viii.), 

 but he considered the Napier limestone to be the same as the 

 Petane limestone. 



In the early part of 1877, Mr. A. McKay examined the 

 district and reported that certain marls and pumice sands, 

 which underlie the limestone at Puketapu (Petane limestone) 

 form the lowest beds exposed on the south-west side of Scinde 

 Island : that " they dip to the N.E,, bringing the limestones to 

 the sea level at the north end of Shakespeare Eoad, but are 

 found at a higher level in the Bluff along the sea beach," (" Eep. 

 Geol. Exp.," 1856-7, p. 84,) thus forming a syncline. In his 

 Progress Eeport for the year, Dr. Hector remarks that " the 

 genera] results of this examination are that the Scinde Island 

 limestone ( = Napier limestone) is shown to be the highest 

 marine bed in the district, being separated from the limestones 

 of the Puketoi Eange and Manawatu Gorge by a great series of 

 fossiliferous sands and clays, estimated in the district west of 

 Napier to be not less than 2,000 feet thick." (I.e., p. 11.) 



In August, 1878, Mr. A. McKay again visited the district 

 south of Napier, and ascertained that the " pumice sands and 

 lignite series " {i.e. the Petane series) rested un conformably on 

 the Te Aute limestone [i.e. the Ahuriri series) at Mount Vernon, 

 near Waipukurau (" Eep. Geol. Explorations," 1878-79, p. 72) ; 

 and Dr. Hector remarks, in his Progress Eeport, that " as the 

 former series (Petane series) is closed by the Scinde Island beds, 

 the rocks at the town of Napier do not belong to the same 

 horizon as the Te Aute limestone." (I.e., p. 26.) 



*"Eep. Geol. Exp.," 1874-76, p. 96. This report was not published 

 until 1877, after Mr. Percy Smith's paper had been read ; so that each is 

 independent of the other. 



