REPORTS OP COMMITTEES. 283 



Fig. 6. — C. marrii, Hicks. Outline of Skiddaw specimen, after 

 Jones and Woodward. 



Fig. 7. — C. angusta. Chapman. Outline of Victorian specimen. 



Fig. 8. — C. ohlong^, Gurley. Outline of Canadian specimen 

 (Calciferous group). 



NEW ZEALAND. 



I. —NOTES ON GLACIATION IN NEW ZEALAND. 



By P. MARSHALL, M.A., D.Se. 



(With Map.) 



The great Taieri moraine is the only evidence that glacial con- 

 ditions extended to the present east coast in any part of New Zealand. 

 The main features of the moraine were described by Hutton, in his 

 " Geology of Otago and Southland." The geological survey referred 

 to the moraine as the Henley Breccias. The moraine is 10 miles long 

 and three miles wide. In places it rises to an altitude of 1,000ft., but 

 its base is beneath sea-level. On the north-west it is bounded by the 

 Lake Waihola depression, and on the south-east a range of mica schist 

 1,000ft. high, against which it abuts, separates it from the ocean. 



The material of the moraine consists almost solely of fragments of 

 mica schist. In many places it has been rudely stratified by the streams 

 that flowed from the ice face. In all places where the stratification can 

 be seen there is a constant N.W. dip of 15°. The surface is greatly 

 disfigured by stream action, and its loose incoherent matter allows of 

 slips forming in large numbers in winter ; in fact there are few portions 

 of the hillsides that have not recently moved. The Taieri gorge strikes 

 straight across the moraine and the schist hills that separate it from 

 the sea. The gorge is tidal throughout its whole length, and was evi- 

 dently corrodecl when the land was at a higher level. At the same time 

 it is a recent feature, for it is extremely precipitous to the water's edge, 

 where it traverses the solid schist ; but where the moraine is crossed 

 the banks are far less steep. No marine shells or other fossils have 

 yet been found in the morainic matter. 



The moraine requires special explanation, both because of its 

 singular position, and of the peculiarity of the Waihola basin and the 

 Taieri gorge. Hutton stated that the ice filled the Waihola basin, and 

 that at first the stream to which it gave rise flowed down the Toko- 

 mairiro Valley, the broad bottom of which is at least 600ft. below the 

 summit of the hills that rise precipitously from the gorge. During the 

 glacial recession he supposed that the valley was blocked by an ice 

 dam, and an overflow over the coastal hills resulted, and thus the gorge 

 was formed. 



It is rather more probable that earth movements have in this case 

 produced these remarkable features. The north-west side of the 



