68 president's address — section c. 



series by the old Geological Survey. A conglomerate, with re- 

 markably large pebbles or boulders, and volcanic ash, occurs in 

 this series, or in the lower portion of the overlying Noric beds. 



The Noric beds which follow have a special interest. They form 

 the Wairoa series of Hector, and the Richmond sandstone of Hoch- 

 stetter. They are characterized by an encrmou'.s abundance of 

 Pseudoviontis, with sub-zones marked by the form I', richmon- 

 diana which also occurs in New Caledonia, and F. ochotica, a 

 circum-Pacific type, known also in Timor, the Himalayas, Japan, 

 Arctic Siberia, &c. Locally the zone is completely absent, as near 

 Nugget Point, though present ten miles inland from here. This 

 series is noteworthy both for its wide extent, and for the igneous 

 rocks in the lower portion. They extend along the Hokonui Hills 

 and into the Moonlight Range. They extend throughout the 

 length of the Southern Alps in Canterbury, being recognized, 

 generally in river gravels, but are also known in situ near Lake 

 Tekapo and Arthur's Pass (Speight 1920). McKay (1879) has also 

 traced them fi'om the Malvern and Clent Hills, where they had 

 been ohserved by Von Haast, up to the Ashley county, in north- 

 west of Canterbury, and shown that caey are associated there with 

 crystalline limestones, cherts, and diabasic ash. In the Nelson 

 district the Noric rocks correspond generally with part of Hcch- 

 stetter's Richmond sandstones, which contains an extraordinary 

 abundance of Fseudornonofis. The igneous rocks are not here 

 developed, unless, as is not improbable, the Brock-street series 

 should be included here ratlier than in the Te Anau series. 

 McKay (1878) has also shown the occurrence of diabasic ash, 

 limestones and argillites, with traces of " Monotis " in the eastern 

 side of thei Rimutaka-Ruahine ranges, and Noric beds also are 

 abundant in the -Mokau district of North Taranaki, and extend 

 theaice to Kawhia, in which region the lower J', or/iofirn sub-zone 

 is missing, but is found further north, near Huntly. (Fidc' Dr. 

 Henderson.) 



The Rhaetic fauna which follows on this has so far been re- 

 corded fi'om the southern side of the Hokonui hills, in the South 

 Island, and from the regions about Kawhia, in the North Island, 

 where the series is 3,000 feet thick. Arccfifcs rhctica, a very alate 

 Spiriferinn (S. d'iomeda), Mentzelia and f'hirir/eia (the " Hec- 

 to'ria " of Trechmann), are the chief fossils. An extensive series 

 of fossil if erous Mesozoic rocks occurs in the latter region, and -is 

 now being investigated by Dr. Henderson and his associates, who 

 have verbally indicated that Dr. Trechmann 's zonal succession is 

 well represented in this region. 



The Jurassic beds follow conformably on the Triassic, but are not 

 so notably fels]>athic. Thev consist of alternating sandstones and 

 mudstones, in which interbedded plant-remains are increasingly 

 abundant, and give rise to small seams of coal. Marine and 



