306 Essays. 
In 1845, Darwin's Voyage of a Naturalist was published, with some 
account of the geology of the Bay of Islands. 
In the year 1855, Dr. C. Forbes, R.N., of H.M.S.. “ Pandora,” con- 
tributed a valuable paper to the Geological Society on the geology of New 
Zealand. 
In 1856, the Rev. R. Taylor, of Wanganui, published his work on New 
Zealand and its inhabitants, which contains the results of his long geological 
experience, 
In 1859, Dr. Thomson’s Story of New Zealand was published, in which 
he refers instructively to the geology of the colony, and describes some 
points of great interest. In the same year Dr. Hochstetter arrived in New 
Zealand, in the I. and R. Austrian frigate “ Novara," and commenced that 
investigation of the Provinces of Auckland and Nelson which has resulted 
in the valuable contributions to science now before the publie. In this 
investigation he was assisted by the present government geologist of Can- 
terbury, Dr. Julius Haast. 
In the Province of Wellington, Mr. William Lyon has done much during 
a long series of years to advance the cause of geology, and Mr. Thomas 
Dawson Triphook has investigated the rocks of the Province of Hawke Bay. 
From him, in the year 1860, I obtained a valuable “tabular view” of the 
rocks of that province. 
Having now brought down these observations on our previous knowledge 
of the North Island rocks, I will state that for the purpose of this essay I 
shall principally make use of the results of Hochstetter’s investigations in 
the Province of Auckland, and my own observations in the southern part 
of the island, while engaged as government geologist of the Province of 
Wellington, from the year 1861 to 1864. In this investigation I received 
valuable assistance from the Rev. W. B. Clarke, of Sydney, whose zeal for 
the advancement of geological knowledge is so well known. ; 
As a considerable portion of the North Island of New Zealand has never 
been subjected to a systematic geological investigation, many parts of it still 
require to be scientifically examined; and as indeed too short a period has 
been devoted to the study of any one part of the island, I can do no more 
than collate all the evidence that is already before the world on the subject 
—which is, at all events, considerable, and amply sufficient to give a good 
general idea of the age and character of the rocks, and of the changes which 
have taken place in them. 
In the North Island there appears to be an absence of the older crystal- 
line and plutonic rocks, and the various formations appear to be principally 
_ Composed of a flooring of palæozoic age, overlaid in general by sedimentary 
terti wy rocks, which cover an extensive area (comprising about half the. 
