Geological Society. 359 



"basalt. One section of this crater wall, some 600 yards long, 

 on both its interior and exterior aspects, was seen to be quarried 

 right uj) to the highest point. On the mountain -face, both inside 

 and out, large numbers of statues, in every state of completion, 

 were to be seen. The largest of these measured 68 feet in length. . 

 Some of those excavated by the Expedition exhibited fine details, 

 such as the finger-nails, in perfect condition. 



In conclusion, Easter Island might be desc^bed as a plateau of 

 basalt raised from 50 to 100 feet above the sea. Superimposed on 

 this were numerous cones ranging up to nearly 2000 feet. The 

 plateau was covered but sparsely with soil, and could only be 

 crossed with difficulty in any direct line. The cones, on the other 

 hand, were generally smooth of surface, with a good depth of soil. 

 Nevertheless the island is practically without trees, bushes, or 

 shrubs. 



February 7th, 1917.— Dr. Alfred Harke^f F.R.S., President, 

 in the Chair, 



The following communications were read : — 



1. ' The Trias of New Zealand.' By Charles Taylor Trechmann, 

 M.Sc., F.G.S. 



The fossiliferous Triassic rocks of New Zealand have been wholly 

 or in part at different times attributed by the geologists of that 

 Dominion to a Devonian, Permian, Permo- Carboniferous, Lower, 

 Middle or Upper Triassic, or Trias-Jura age. A review of the 

 previous research on these rocks and of their correlation and nomen- 

 clature is given. They are quite distinct from the Matai rocks, 

 which contain a Permo- Carboniferous fauna. 



Triassic beds appear at intervals from Kawhia on the western 

 coast of the North Island to Nugget Point on the south-eastern 

 coast of the South Island — a distance of 620 miles. Except in two 

 localities, they are everywhere very steeply inclined, and where they 

 approach the Alpine Chain of the South Island pass into semi- 

 metamorphic greywackes or completely metamorphic phyllites and 

 schists. They are of great thickness. A short descrij^tion of the 

 special faunal, lithic, and tectonic features of each of the more 

 important localities is given, all of which but one occur in the 

 South Island. In the North Island only the Noric and Rhsetic 

 horizons have been recognized. Wherever the sequence is preserved, 

 the Trias passes conformably up into Jurassic deposits. 



The lowest fossiliferous horizon of the Trias occurs near the top 

 of a great thickness of greywackes and conglomerates called the 

 Kaihiku Series, and is separated by several hundred feet from 

 the next fossiliferous beds above it. The Kaihiku fossils are 

 scanty in species, and no cephalopods occur. Among those re- 

 stricted to this horizon is Daonella indica Bittner, which occurs 

 in Ladino-Carnic deposits in the Himalayas and in the Malay 

 Archipelago. Members or survivors of a Muschelkalk fauna 

 occm' in the form of Spiriferints of the group of Spiriferina 

 fragilis Schlotheim. It is concluded that the Kaihiku fossil 



