Hamilton. — Present Position of New Zealand Palceontology. 47 



The collections that are in New Zealand are not many, and may be 

 described as under : — 



(1.) The collection of the older provincial Surveys and of the 

 Geological Survey of 1867. These are in the Museum at 

 Wellington. The number of specimens available for study is 

 about 120,000. All these have correct locality numbers. 



(2.) The displayed collection in the Canterbury Museum. 



(3.) The displayed collection in the Auckland Museum. 



(4.) The displayed collection in the Otago University Museum, 

 Dunedin. 



(5.) The Hochstetter collection in the Nelson Museum. 



(6.) A few small private collections. 



Outside New Zealand. 



(7.) Collection of Tertiary fossils in the British Museum. 

 (8.) Specimens in the hands of experts for determination. 



I will now say a few words about these collections, and as some justifi- 

 cation for doing so I may say that I have been intimately acquainted with 

 the collectors and the collections made by the Government Surveys for 

 thirtv-two years, and have watched their growth under the guidance of 

 Sir James Hector, ably assisted by Mr. A. McKay, Professor Park, Mr. 

 Cox, and others. It is with pleasure that I bear witness to the great in- 

 terest and value of the collections. There can be little doubt that the cost 

 of making the collections has been not far short of £50,000,* and some of 

 them could not be secured again at any price. 



At the end of this paper I have placed a bibliography of the papers 

 bearing more especially on the palaeontology of New Zealand ; and those 

 who are acquainted with the subject will see, on looking it over, that, ex- 

 cept in the case of the Tertiary fossils, there has been very little systematic 

 work recorded. Even the Tertiary lists must shortly undergo a severe 

 revision, based on the new manual of the marine Mollusca, which is now 

 near completion. The percentages of recent and extinct forms will be 

 greatly modified. Much also remains to be done in carefully collecting 

 with a view to establishing characteristic zones in the marine Tertiaries. 



No serious systematic work has been done on the description of the 

 Mesozoic or Palseozoic fossils. t It was the intention of the late Sir 

 James Hector to bring out a series of publications on the palceontology of 

 of New Zealand, and as early as 1878 the following reports were announced 

 as specially descriptive of the palaeontology of New Zealand : — 



(1.) New Zealand Belemnites. 



(2.) New Zealand Brachiopoda. 



(3.) New Zealand Fossil Flora. 



(4.) Fossil Corals. 



(5.) Tertiary Mollusca. 



* Or perhaps one-halt" the total cost of the survey under Sh' James Hector. 



f A sufficient study of the fossils has been made to determine the probable age of 

 the Lower and Upper Silurian, Lower Devonian, and Carboniferous formations in the 

 Palaeozoic series, and of the Permian, Triassic, Liassic, and Jurassic sequence of the 

 Mesozoic formations, and the determinations yet to be made are not likely to disprove 

 the general accuracy of the conclusions that have been arrived at with respect to these 

 formations. 



