PREFACE. 



An acknowledgment is due to the author of this work for the 

 great service he has rendered to the Geological Survey of New 

 Zealand hy so cordially undertaking its preparation. His 

 minute acquaintance with the marine invertebrata of the tropical 

 and temperate parts of Australia, both fossil and recent, as 

 testified by his numerous publications during the past twenty 

 years, peculiarly qualifies him for the task ; so that his important 

 inferences regarding the phj'sical 

 conditions which prevailed in Tertiary 

 times will be received by geologists 

 with confidence. 



A few remarks are necessary as 

 supplementary to the author's refer- 

 ences to the strata from which the 

 collections submitted to him were 

 obtained. 



The accompanying vertical sec- 

 tion indicates the relative positions 

 which the strata occupy, and refers 

 to the columns of the table of the 

 stratigraphical distribution of the 

 species. 



The formations represented in the collection are the fol- 

 lowing : — 



Upper Miocene. 

 IIIa. Wanganui Series. — A group of sandy and argillaceous 

 strMa, the distribution and mineral character of which indicate 



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