Surcula n. sp. 



■ n. sp. 



Bathytoma sulcata excavata Suter. 

 Mangilia n. sp. 

 Terebra costata Hutton. 

 Cylichnella thetidis Hedley. 

 Thalassohelix igniflua Reeve. 

 Dentalium nanum Hutton. 



ecostatum T. W. Kirk. 



Crassatellites obesus A. Adams. 

 Venericardia difficilis Deshayes. 

 Corbula canaliculata Hutton. 



} 86 Transactions, 



The fossils are contained in a stratum of brown sands, which is the 

 material of which Mount Harris is formed. This material overlies the 

 limestone, and is probably a slightly higher horizon than that of the Target 

 Gully beds. Thirty-three per cent, of the species are Recent. 



4. The top of the hill from Waihao Forks to the Elephant Hill. The rocks 

 here again are brown sands similar to those of the last locality. 



Turritella caver shamensis Harris. 



carlottae Watson. 



Natica zelandica Q. & G. 

 Polinices suturalis Hutton. 



huttoni Ihering. 



Fusinus n. sp. 

 Si-phonalia conoidea Zittel. 

 Alectrion socialis Hutton. 

 Fulguraria arabica Martyn. 

 Ancilla bicolor Gray. 

 Marginella pygmaea Sowerby. 

 Surcula fusiformis Hutton. 



Of these species, as many as 46 per cent, are Recent. 



The general similarity of these lists at once establishes the fact that 

 the rocks in which the fossils occur belong to the same stratigraphical 

 series. This fact is also, in the author's opinion, abundantly proved by the 

 stratigraphical evidence, for no appearance of a stratigraphical break is to 

 be found. Hector and McKay, however, placed these strata in three dif- 

 ferent formations — Cretaceo-tertiary, Upper Eocene, and Lower Miocene ; 

 Hutton placed them partly in the Oligocene and partly in the Miocene ; 

 while Park classified them all in the Miocene formation. It is obvious from 

 the foregoing lists that the last opinion is probably correct, though the 

 author differs from Park as to the arrangement of the different beds within 

 this system. The stratigraphical sequence is clearly — 



4. Brown sands. 



3. Grey argillaceous beds (Awamoa). 



2. Limestone. 



1. Greensands. 

 That this arrangement is supported by the palaeontological evidence 

 is shown by the following considerations : The greensands at Wharekuri 

 contain 23-3 per cent, of Recent species, and those on the Waihao 10 per 

 cent, and 15 per cent, respectively. The lower percentages in the last two 

 cases are based on small and probably quite incomplete collections. 



Collections were made from the limestone at Otiake. In this place it has a 

 molluscan fauna which contains 24-2 per cent, of Recent species. Though 

 the limestone has a wide occurrence in the Oarnaru district, it seldom contains 

 many molluscan remains, and in most localities the hard and compact nature 

 of the rock makes it almost impossible to extract the shells. In those places 

 only where the limestone is highly arenaceous can the shells be collected 

 with any ease. Park has classified the limestone outcrops at Oarnaru in 

 two different series, but we are not able to agree with this from a study 

 of the stratigraphical evidence. The palaeontological evidence as here 

 detailed gives no support to this theory. The fauna of the greensands 

 at Wharekuri and at Waihao appears to be of a distinctly more ancient 

 type than that of the sands which rest on the limestone at Oarnaru. Park 



