572 Bevieivs — Geology of New Zealand. 



and Schwarz in 1900, but the author has availed himself of all 

 other material on which he could lay his hands. Discussing first 

 the age of thefauna, Dr. Kitchin has provided a careful summary of 

 previous work in fourteen pages ranging from Hausmann's researches 

 in 1837 to his own. He arrives at the conclusion that "no portion of 

 the TJitenhage Series represents a period of time earlier or later than 

 the Neocomian. It must be said, indeed, that the almost entire 

 restriction of Holcostephanus, sensu stricto (= Astieria auctorum), to 

 the upper part of the Valanginian and lower beds of the Hauterivian 

 in Europe suggests much narrower limits, when we consider how 

 important a place is taken by members of this genus in characterising 

 the cephalopod-fauna of the TJitenhage beds." 



The fauna is then compared with that of the south-west of Madagascar, 

 the Oomia group in Cutch, certain Godavari and Hazara fossils, the 

 Neocomian fauna of German East Africa, and the Neocomian fauna 

 of Patagonia, and the author concludes his general remarks with 

 a discussion on the distribution of the TJitenhage fauna in relation to 

 some theoretical questions. These ai-e the theory of an Indo-African 

 land-barrier during early Cretaceous times and Keumayr's theory of 

 distribution according to climatic zones. Then follows a description 

 of the fauna and a bibliography. 



The memoir, with its beautiful plates, cannot fail to be of the 

 highest value, and marks a great advance in our knowledge of the 

 fossil fauna of South Africa. 



lY. — New Zealand. 



THE most interesting paper in the Transactions of the New Zealand 

 Institute, 1908, vol. xl, is Dr. Marshall's geology of the centre 

 and north of North Island with its accompanying map. It seems 

 that there is little evidence in regard to the structural meaning 

 of the direction of the North of Auckland Peninsula. The plutonic 

 rocks of Mangonui and Ahipara are diorites and norites, but no 

 evidence is available as to whether they are intrusive or older than the 

 Mesozoic sediments, and that the volcanic rocks are chiefly rhyolitic in 

 the central region, but the rhyolites are penetrated by andesitic pipes, 

 over which large cones have been built up. The lake-basins are 

 probably areas of violent hydrotherraal explosions, and from these 

 explosions pumice was distributed. The sharp scarps of many of the 

 rhyolite hills do not indicate the action of faults, but are due to 

 erosion, and a sequence of eruptive rocks is suggested. J. A. Thomson 

 writes on Tertiary fossils from Kakanui and R. Speight on some 

 aspects of the Terrace-development in the valleys of the Canterbury 

 Elvers. The Schists of Central Otago are described by 

 A. M. Finlayson, who also writes on the Scheelite of the same 

 district. The Westland Alkaline and Nepheline rocks are worked 

 out by J. P. Smith, and a soda-amphibolite-Trachyte from Cass' Peak, 

 Banks Peninsula, is described by R. Speight. The Gabbro of the Dun 

 Mountain receives attention from Dr. Marshall. 



