582 Transactions.—Geology. 
B—Ferruginous clays, with septaria and leda marls, containing upper 
secondary fossils (the greensand group and saurian beds of later 
classification), 
C—Sandstone and grit, with plants representing the West Coast coal- 
field. Now known as the Amuri group. * 
This, the first proposed, will, there is no doubt, prove to be the true classi- 
fication of the beds, and may be applied equally to the Amuri Bluff and 
the Waipara sections, minor sub-divisions being in places adopted with 
advantage. 
In 1867 Dr. Hector examined the Waipara section, and, as remarked 
by Dr. Haast, was the first to point. out the true relation of the saurian 
beds to the overlying Weka Pass limestone.+ 
In 1868 Mr. Hood made a second collection from the Waipara, and 
during the same season Mr. R. L. Holmes made in this district a collection 
for the Colonial Museum. During the same year Dr. Haast made a survey 
of the Waipara district, and in his report argues at considerable length the 
question of the age of the saurian beds; considering the whole series, in- 
cluding the coal beds of the Waipara and Malvern Hills, to be of lower 
tertiary age.1 
During the latter part of the year 1869 andin the beginning of 1870, Dr. 
Haast, for the New Zealand Geological Survey Department, examined the 
Amuri Bluff and surrounding district. In his report he describes the 
Amuri Bluff beds as being altogether distinct from the saurian beds at the 
Waipara, and notes a total disagreement between the fossils of the two 
localities. § 
In 1871 Mr. H. H. Travers made a collection for the Colonial 
Museum, at Amuri Bluff; and in 1872 the writer made a large collection 
from the Waipara for the Canterbury Museum ; and in 1878, at 
Amuri Bluff, another collection for the Colonial Museum, but none of these 
visits had any reference to the stratigraphical relations of the beds. 
During December, 1872, and in the early part of 1878, Captain 
Hutton, as assistant to the Geological Survey Department, made an exami- 
nation of the north-east part of the South Island, with a special view to the 
relations of the saurian beds. 
In his report he considers the Amuri limestone, and underlying beds of 
the same series, as belonging to the very uppermost part of the cretaceous 
formation. The overlying beds at Amuri Bluff he refers to the upper 
* “Geol, Reports,” 1866-7, p. 17. 
} “ Trans. N.Z. Inst." Vol. IL, p. 189. See also “ Geol. Reports," 1868-9, Progress 
Report, p. 11. 
1 “ Geol. Report.," 1870-1, p. 5-19. 
§ “ Geol, Reports," 1870-1, pp. 25-46, 
