548 Transactions. — Geology. 



31. Dosinia magna, Hutton. 



32. Dosinia greyi, Zittel. 



33. Cardium spatiosum, Hutton. 



34. Cardium striatulum, Sowerby. 



35. Corbula dubia, Hutton. 



36. Zenatia acinaces, Quoy and Gaimard. 



37. Panopcea plicata, Hutton. 



38. Tapes, sp. no v. 



39. Diplodonta zelandica, Gray. 



Of the forty-two species enumerated above, thirty, or 

 71 - 4 per cent., are still living. There is no difficulty in cor- 

 relating these beds with the Motanau beds of North Canter- 

 bury and the Te Aute series of Wellington and Hawke's Bay. 



Port Hills, Nelson. 

 Stratigraphy . 



The Tertiaries of Nelson consist of conglomerates followed 

 by coarse sandstones, which are succeeded by finer banded 

 sandstones and sandy clays. The conglomerates form Arrow 

 Rock, at the entrance to the harbour. The coarse sandstones 

 contain gritty shell and coral beds, and are well exposed below 

 high-water mark as reefs lying between Arrow Rock and the 

 sea-wall. The finer sandstones are best seen in the cliffs 

 facing the harbour. 



A few isolated boulders of granite partially water-worn 

 occur imbedded in the upper sandstones. The largest boulder 

 seen by me was about 4 ft. in diameter. The material com- 

 posing the great conglomerate at the base of the series is said 

 to be mainly granitic. 



The beds are tilted towards the south-east — that is, towards 

 the Port Hills— at angles varying from 70° in the lower sand- 

 stones to 45° in the higher. They run more or less parallel 

 with the sea-wall, but in places are seen to be faulted and even 

 bent along the strike. The direction of the dip carries them 

 under the Port Hills, themselves composed of gravels which 

 appear to be a remnant of the Moutere gravels of Pleistocene 

 age. 



The well-known Waimea, Moutere, and Motueka gravel 

 hills are all that now remain of the great sloping fan or plain 

 formed by the Motueka River at the time when it drained 

 the slopes of the Spenser Mountains and Mount Murchison, 

 and wandered from Richmond to Riwaka, a slow sinking 

 of the land enabling it to carry forward the material by 

 means of which half of Tasman Bay was reclaimed from 

 the sea. The outline of this great river-fan can still be 

 clearly traced from the shores of Tasman Sea south-west- 

 ward to the sources of the Hope River, where it attains a 



