4 



folding of the rocks in Otago, in Kelson, and in Malborough, 

 but not in Canterbury. Since then three depressions and 

 two elevations have taken place, during which the greater 

 part of the cretaceous and tertiary rocks were removed by 

 denudation. A third elevation is going on at present. 



No one who, after visiting the Alps of Switzerland, should 

 explore the Alps of New Zealand could, I think, fail to notice 

 two remarkable points of difference between these mountain 

 regions. The first is that mountains, with sharp serrated 

 summits, which are the exception in Switzerland, are the 

 rule in New Zealand. The second is that waterfalls are 

 rare in New Zealand in comparison with Switzerland, 

 although the mountains of New Zealand are quite as rough 

 and as rugged as the Alps of Europe. Also, the passes in 

 New Zealand are lower, the valleys are much more terraced, 

 and the mountains are generally much more covered with 

 loose debris, than any part of the Swiss Alps. The explana- 

 tion of these differences lies in the fact that the New 

 Zealand Alps are far older than those of Switzerland. They 

 have been constantly exposed to the action of rain and wind 

 ever since the Jurassic period, and most of the larger valleys 

 had been cut down nearly to their present depth before the 

 Oligocene ; a time when the European Alps and the Himalaya 

 were only just rising above the sea. 



CONTRIBUTION TO THE PALAEONTOLOGY OF 



THE UPPER PALEOZOIC BOCKS OE TASMANIA. 



Br Bobt. M. Johnston, E.L.S. 



[Read April 13, 1886.] 



During many years of observation among the Upper 

 Palaeozoic rocks of Tasmania I have made large collections of 

 fossils in different parts of the island. Among these I have 

 identified many forms, already described by Morris, M'Coy 

 Dana, de Koninck, and other authors, as occurring in a similar 

 formation in New South "Wales. There is a considerable 

 number of important fossils which I believe to be new to 

 science, and, as it is very desirable for purposes of reference 

 and classification that these fossils should be described, I have 

 ventured to submit a list of the fossils known to me as 

 occurring in Tasmanian rocks, together with provisional 

 descriptions of the species deemed by me to be new to science. 

 I have long studied the variability of the various fossil forms 



