8 Transactions. 



" flat rock " ; Celebes, papang, " a board " ; Malay, papan, " a plank or 

 board " ; San Cristoval, paparagan, " surf-board " ; Malaita, haba, *' surf- 

 board." Papa means also " the eartli " in Maori, and no doubt the Maoris 

 conceived of the eai*th as flat, as our own forefathers did ; this word, how- 

 ever, may be from a root meaning " soil." 



Taking last the transposed forms rapa and lapa, we get the Maori rapa- 

 rafa, meaning " the flat part of the foot " ; Hawaiian lapa, " a ridge of 

 land between two ravines, steep side of a ravine, having a flat or square 

 side " ; Samoan lapa, " flat " ; Mangareva raparapa, " flat " ; Paumotu 

 rapa, " flat blade of paddle " ; Motu, New Guinea, ilapa, " a sword " ; 

 Mota irav, " a board, slab of wood in canoe or house " ; lapwai, " the flat 

 of a blade, tail of eel." 



These roots are merely given as examples of the working-out of certain 

 principles of comparison. Other roots might be easily given from which 

 a still larger number of words are derived. But the following of such 

 principles as those given above should make comparisons at once easier 

 to obtain and more likely to be correct. 



Confusion is especially likely to arise when the first syllable only re- 

 mains, or where it has been reduplicated. For example, the Maori ta has 

 many meanings, because it is derived from a number of difierent roots. 

 Papa may be derived from patu (a stone or rock), para (across), para (sedi- 

 ment, dirt, &c.) ; rara from rana, raho, &c. ; roro from roto, rongo, &c. 

 If comparisons are to be sound, they should always have regard to the 

 root-form and its meaning. 



The study of the Oceanic languages should throw more light on the 

 general problem of language than the study of the Aryan family or the 

 Semitic, because the problems to be solved are less complicated, owing to 

 the fact that the peoples have been living isolated for so long, and have 

 been unaffected by civilisation. When the Oceanic family has been care- 

 fully studied, comparisons may be made with Aryan and Semitic languages. 

 Apparently there were true Aryan and Semitic words in the original Oceanic 

 language. 



Art. IJ.—List of Becent Shells found Fossil in New Zealand. 



By Henry Suter. 



Communicated by Dr. Chilton. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, Zrd November, 1909.] 



During my recent study of the New Zealand Mollusca I made a list of 

 species which have been recorded as fossil, and it may be of interest to 

 Lave it published. 



P. stands for Pliocene, M. for Miocene, 0. for the Oamaru Series. 



The latter formation was considered by Zittel to belong to the Oli- 

 gocene or Upper Eocene, by Hutton to the Oligocene, wliilst Professor 



