THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE V. VOL. V. 



No. IV. — APRIL, 1908. 



OmGrIIT^A.31i .A.I^TICIL.ES. 



I. — On SOME l^Ew Zealand Gkaptolites. 



By Ethel M. E. Shakespeae, D.Sc. 



'■yiHE ]S'ew Zealand graptolites which, are dealt with in this paper 

 JL were collected by Mr. E. Douglas Isaacson, mining engineer, 

 !N"ew Zealand, for the British Museum (Natural History), South 

 Kensington. Dr. A. Smith Woodward, P.R.S., very kindly gave me 

 the opportunity of examining this interesting collection, which was 

 sent to me in the Autumn of 1907. Shortly after its receipt 

 Dr. Woodward forwarded me a copy of the New Zealand Geological 

 Survey publication entitled " The Geology of the Parapara Sub- 

 division, Karamea, Nelson," by James Mackintosh Bell, Director, 

 1907, which contains brief descriptions and figures of graptolites 

 collected from the same locality as that from which Mr. Isaacson 

 collected his specimens. Since, however, the records of graptolites 

 from New Zealand are very limited in number, and since Mr. Isaacson's 

 collection contains a greater variety of forms than that of any previous 

 observer, it seems advisable to publish the identifications that I have 

 found it possible to make from an examination of his collection. 



In addition to the actual specimens, Mr. Isaacson's maps and notes 

 were placed at my disposal, and from these I have obtained the 

 following facts concerning the occurrence of the graptolite-bearing 

 rocks. 



The locality from which Mr. Isaacson obtained his specimens is 

 that of Slaty Creek, not far from Aorangi mine, in the Aorere district 

 of the Karamea division. It is about nine miles south of the southern 

 end of the Wanganui Inlet, which is situated at the extreme north- 

 western corner of the Middle Island of New Zealand. The floor of 

 the country consists for the most part of a series of unfossiliferous 

 blue slates (Aorere Series), but interbedded with these is a "highly 

 carbonised band," only a "few inches in thickness." "The auriferous 

 reefs of the locality are only found in intimate association with this 

 graphitic (carbonised) slate. The reef itself has a thin coating of 

 graphite, and between the graphite and the slate is a block pug seam ; 

 while the slate itself is generally in a very crushed condition." The 

 graptolites were " obtained almost anywhere on the line of the reef, 



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