IV. — GEOLOGY. 



Art. XLIV. — The Fossils of the Waitemata and Papakura 



Series. 



By E. Clarke. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 29th February, 1904. 



Plate XXXII. 



I . Introductory. 

 The typical Waitemata beds consist of alternating soft sand- 

 stones and friable clays, both almost entirely unfossiliferous. 

 Interbedded with these are several beds of volcanic and slate 

 grits, a full description of which may be seen in the papers by 

 Messrs. Mulgan and Fox (Appendix 27, 28). 



The Papakura series is characterized by the occurrence 

 of beds of limestone, and has yielded fairly numerous fossils. 

 It seems doubtful whether those who have written about 

 the Papakara series are quite agreed as to what and where 

 that series is. Mr. Cox speaks of a " Papakura limestone 

 forming high cliffs at Papakura" (App. 11, p. 13). I have 

 not seen these cliffs of limestone. By " Papakura series ' 

 Hochstetter (its originator 1 ) meant the succession of clays 

 and limestones seen in " Cooper and Smith's limestone 

 quarries on the Hunua Mountains" (App. 4, p. 42). 



Although a considerable amount of valuable stratigraphical 

 work has been done, much remains to be done on palaaonto- 

 logical lines. The age of the beds has not been determined 

 by palaeontological evidence since Hochstetter's time ; and 

 since then not only have the Waitemata and Papakura 

 series yielded additional fossils, but also the number of 

 described New Zealand Tertiary invertebrates has been in- 

 creased, and the relative ages of the Tertiarv strata have 

 been more accurately determined. 



The following list contains, so far as could be ascertained, 

 all the specifically determined invertebrates, excepting Bryozoa 

 and Foraminifera, found in the Waitematas near to and south 

 of Auckland, and in the Pakakura series. 



Considerable difficulty is experienced in trying to identify 

 the Orakei Bay fossils. Owing to their abnormal smallness 

 it is difficult to compare them with specimens from elsewhere. 



The localities mentioned may all be found in the county 

 maps, except Slippery Creek, which is kept in this paper 

 since other geologists have used it. Hay's Creek is the name 



