Relations of the New-Zealand Fauna. 99 



(Hochstetter's ' New Zealand,' p. 57), a genus still living in 

 New Zealand, but also foimd in Australia, New Caledonia, 

 New Hebrides, Fiji, and the Indian archipelago. 



An interval then occui's ; and the next formation probably 

 belongs to the Jurassic period. In this we find Belemnites 

 aucldandicus^ which can hardly be distinguished from B. ca- 

 naliculatuSj and Astarte wollambUlaensis. The ferns, too, 

 found so plentifully near Port Waikato, in the Clcnt hills, at 

 the Mataura, and at Waikawa harbour are considered by Pro- 

 lessor M'Coy to be identical with Australian ferns from the 

 same formation. At the close of this period movements on aa 

 extensive scale commenced in New Zealand ; the land was up- 

 heaved, and an extensive mountain-chain formed. A long 

 blank now occurs in our geological record (see Geol. Reports, 

 1872, p. 105), the next formation belonging to quite the 

 uppermost part of the Secondary epoch, later, I believe, than 

 the white chalk of England. In it we find remains of dicoty- 

 ledonous plants and large Saurians belonging to the genera 

 Crocodilusi and Flesiosaicrus. Here, also, we find three fossil 

 shells [Dentalium mqjusj Lucina americana^ and Cuculloia 

 aha) similar to those found in South America, one of which, 

 Lucina americana, is found in the Lower Cretaceous rocks of 

 TieiTa del Fuego, and the other two in the Miocene formations 

 of Patagonia and Chile — thus showing that during this blank 

 in our geological record an intimate connexion had existed be- 

 tween ^Q\Y Zealand and South America. The disposition, 

 however, of these beds shows that the New-Zealand Alps were 

 not submerged. A long interval now follows, during which 

 New Zealand was again upheaved ; and the next rocks that 

 we find are of Upper Eocene date (Geol. Reports, 1872, 

 p. 182). From that time until the close of the Miocene period 

 New Zealand was greatly depressed and divided into several 

 islands ; but at the close of the Miocene period it was once 

 more upheaved. During this period we find several South- 

 American Miocene shells not met with in the older formation, 

 as well as several Australian ones. During the Newer Plio- 

 cene period it again subsided, and the Wanganui beds were 

 deposited. From that time I can see no evidence of the land 

 having ever stood at a higher level than it docs at present ; 

 but as the later changes in the physical geography of New 

 Zealand have a most important bearing on the present condi- 

 tion of its fauna, beyond the scope of my j)resent inquiry, I pro- 

 pose treating the subject in a separate paper*. Tiie geological 

 evidence is therefore that since the Jurassic period tiiere have 



* Vide " On tho Date of the last Great Glacier Period iu New Zealand " 

 (Trans. New-Zealand Institute, vol. v.). 



