STEVENSON— INTERRELATIONS OF THE FOSSIL FUELS. 151 



contain erect and prostrate stems, which, according to Molengraaff, 

 are distinctly in loco natalis. 



Hutton-°'* described important deposits of brown coal in New 

 Zealand, which belong to the Upper Eocene. At one locality he saw 

 two beds, 6 and 2 feet, underlying and overlying shales with leaves ; 

 the dip is 25 degrees. In another valley, the upper bed is 10 feet 

 thick and has dip of 10 degrees. The mining operations are exten- 

 sive and the coal everywhere is rich in " ambrite." In a later publica- 

 tion, he refers to bituminous shale near Dunedin and to a similar 

 shale near Orepuke. That near Dunedin varies in thickness from 

 6 feet to 18 inches within a distance of 20 chains — a pronounced lens. 

 It yields 42 gallons of crude oil per ton. The Orepuke shale is 

 equally rich. 



The coal of Haring, in the Tyrol, and its peculiarities have 

 attracted notice from numerous students. Reuss-^° stated that the 

 coal rests on gray to brown shale-clay, which becomes increasingly 

 coal-like as it approaches the coal ; at the same time it becomes more 

 calcareous and finally passes into a crumbling coal, mixed with marl. 

 It is rich in shells, Helix, Planorbis and a small bivalve, usually so 

 crushed as to be unidentifiable. Some layers seem to be composed 

 wholly of these shells ; no remains of plants were observed. The 

 coal, at times 30 feet thick, varies from Pechkohle to shining black 

 " Schieferkohle " and nowhere shows any woody structure. The 

 benches are 3 to 6 inches thick and the partings often consist of 

 bituminous limestone, with nests of more or less shell-bearing lime- 

 stone. The dip is from 30 to 35 degrees. The roof is a thin-bedded 

 fetid limestone with many indistinct bivalves and, more rarely, Fusus 

 and Rostellaria. It contains also abundant fragmentary remains of 

 plants, among which SaH.v, Erica, palms and other forms have been 

 identified. 



Von GiimbeP^^ speaks of this coal as embedded in undoubted 

 marine marl deposits, containing both brackish water and freshwater 



209 p \Y Hutton, Reps. New Zealand Geol. Survey for 1871-72, pp. 107, 

 108, 181; "Geology of Otago," p. no. 



21'^ Reuss, " Geognostische Beobachtungen durch Tyrol," Ncues Jahrbuch, 

 1840, pp. 162-164. 



211 C. W. V. Giimbel, " Beitrage," etc., pp. 149, 150. 



