150 GEOLOGY. 



large part of the level lands, and cap all the older formations from 

 Nelson to Hokitika, were formed at this time, in addition to the great 

 gravel-drift of the Canterbury Plains. The moraine-matter of the 

 W. coast is of greater extent, and much thicker than that of the 

 E. coast, always overlies the shingle-drift, and shows no sign of 

 subsequent marine action or of having been under water. A few 

 raised beaches are to be met with on the W. coast, at heights varying 

 from 50 to 300 feet above the sea-level, and were probably formed 

 during the period of elevation. The author's theory is : — " That the 

 glacial period commenced during a period of elevation, during which 

 many of the existing raised beaches and auriferous leads were formed ; 

 that continued subsidence followed the close of the glacial period, and 

 that subsidence is still going on." E. E., Jun. 



Ethekidge, R. Jun., and R. A. F. Mtjekay. Report on the Durham 

 Lead, Euninj'ong, Victoria. Reports Mining Surveyors and 

 Registrars, 30th June. App. B. pp. 42-50. Melbourne. 



Written in 1868, though not published until 1874. Describes an 

 area to the south of the township of Buninyong, comprised within 

 three quarter-sheets of the former Geological Survey of Victoria, 

 through a part of which passes the " Durham Lead." The formations 

 treated of are the Silurian, a marine series referred to the Miocene, 

 drifts referred to the Pliocene, and several Basaltic lava-flows filling 

 in the old channel of the Tarrowee or Leigh River, and spreading over 

 the older formations of the surrounding country. The Pliocene drifts 

 are subdivided into : — a, those forming " cappings " on older rocks ; 

 6, those filling-in old valleys, forming " leads ;" and, c, those forming 

 widely spread surface "washes." The drifts which occupy the old 

 bed of the Leigh River, and form the Durham Lead, are referable to b. 

 Of the Basaltic lava-flows three are traceable to their points of eruption 

 — Mount Mercer, the Green Hill, and Hardie's Hill. R. E., Jun. 



Haast, Dr. J. Notes on th6 Geology of the Clent-HiUs and Mount- 



Somers Districts, in the Province of Canterbury. Reports of 



Geological Explorations during 1872-3 ; Geol. Surv. N. Zealand, 



pp. 1-19 (with map and sections), 8vo. Wellington. 



There seems to be in the Clent-Hills district an older sedimentary 



series of shales, slates, conglomerates, and sandstones, the last with 



plants (Pecopteris, Camptopteris, Tceniopteris, Cycadites?, &c.). At 



Mount Potts the lower part of the Clent-Hills section is represented 



by a great thickness of clay-slates, with a few beds of conglomerate, 



containing rounded fragments of bones and broken shells. Both the 



shells and the plants from the plant-beds of the Clent and Malvern HiUs 



are considered to be allied to those of the coal-formation of New South 



Wales. Resting on the edges of the older sedimentary rocks is a series 



of basic volcanic rocks, melaphyres with interstratified tufas, in places 



covered by a series of quartziferous porphyries and pitchstones, the 



older basic series having been denuded before the accumulation of the 



acid series. Here and there the porphyries rest directly on Palaeozoic 



