34 M ant ell on Fossil Remains from New Zealand. 



Wanganui. a river which has its source in the volcanic regions of 

 Mount Egmont. It was at the embouchure of the Wanganui 

 that Mr. Taylor obtained the bones in his possession. It will be 

 remembered that the streams which yielded the relics procured 

 by Mr. Colenso and Mr. Williams, lie to the east of Tongariro, 

 and probably originate in that elevated volcanic chain, many parts 

 of which are above the line of perpetual snow. The specimens 

 collected by my son were found imbedded in and filled with 

 loose sand, at a considerable distance from the bed of the river; 

 in no instance do they exhibit any traces of silt or fluviatile mud. 

 My son mentions having on one occasion obtained bones from a 

 potato-pit sunk by a native remote from any stream.* 



With the view of elucidating these remarks, and the inferences 

 I shall presently venture to suggest, I will here concisely describe 

 the geological structure of New Zealand, on the authority of Dr. 

 Dieffenbach. This country, which is situated between 30 and 

 50 degrees of south latitude, forms a group of mountainous islands 

 nearly as large as England and Wales, Its geological structure 

 is with difficulty determined, owing to the primeval forests which 



fringe the coast ; and where these have been destroyed, by im- 



penetrable thickets of esculent fern. The fundamental rock is 

 everywhere clay-slate, which is frequently traversed by green- 

 stone dykes, as at Fort Nicholson, Queen Charlotte's Sound, and 

 Cloudy Bay. On the banks of the rivers Eri tonga, Waibo, and 

 along some parts of the sea-coast, there are horizontal terraces of 

 boulders of trap-rocks 50 feet high. Anthracite coal crops out in 

 the harbor of VVangarua ; and there is a seam of the same mineral 

 intercalated in the hard grey sandstone on the east coast of the 

 Northern Island. On the west coast of the same, the limestone 

 contains a few shells, as pecten, ostrea, terebratula, with an Ech- 

 inus spatangas. The coasts are in many places fringed with 

 recent horizontal sediments, consisting of loam with fragments of 

 wood and fern, &c. The small rocky islands of trachyte off the 

 coast of the Northern Island also bear marks of wave-action to 

 the height of 100 feet above the present sea-level In the interior 

 of the Northern Island there is a lofty central group of volcanic 

 mountains, some of the volcanos being still in activity: the an- 

 cient lava-streams appear to have been principally erupted from 

 the base of the craters. The highest mountains are Tongariro, 

 which is 6,000 feet, and Mount Egmont, 9,000 feet high. The 

 loftiest summits are covered with perpetual snow. There are 

 many lakes, which appear to occupy ancient craters. f 



The occurrence of terraces of loam and gravel of comparatively 

 recent date, at an elevation of from 50 to 100 feet above the sea 

 along the coasts of New Z< land, prove that a considerable change 



* Wonders of 6eology, 6ili edition, p. 129. 

 t British Association Reports for 1845. 



j 



