v. Haast.—On the Geological Structure of the Southern Alps. 385 
Returning to the Mount Torlesse formation, which Dr. Hector in his 
annual Geological Survey Report classifies as Carboniferous (or Maitai 
series), the only fossil upon which reliance is placed, is a peculiar annelid ; 
this, annelid, however, of which well-authenticated specimens are in the 
Canterbury Museum, has been found in numerous other localities now . 
marked mesozoie on Dr. Hector’s map. 
one knowing the charaeter of the rocks in our eastern chains, close 
to the Canterbury Plains, will be rather astonished to see that a few miles 
north of the Waimakariri, in the northern continuation of Mount Torlesse, 
the Puketeraki Range, the Mount Torlesse formation comes abruptly to a 
close, and only mesozoic (Permian, however, included) continue towards 
the north. I know this range well, having crossed it in various directions 
repeatedly, and I can simply affirm that no change of formation takes place, 
but that the character of the rocks up to the Hurunui is exactly the same. 
Of course I have to repeat what I stated in my Report on the Geology of 
Canterbury and Westland, on page 279, that it is even more than probable 
that this huge assemblage of beds may belong to several distinct periods, 
ranging from the paleozoic to the lower mesozoie; but hitherto it has 
been impossible to divide this (Mount Torlesse) formation, for the present 
at least, into smaller groups, owing to the want of fossils. Since this was 
written, beds with triassic fossils have been found in the Okuku Range, 
lying east of the Puketeraki Range, so that there is evidence of younger 
roeks existing near or amongst the older Mount Torlesse formation. It 
would have been far more suitable to have marked clearly those localities 
in the map, than to have coloured all their surroundings of the same age, 
without being able to bring forth the necessary proofs. 
Dr. Hector now classifies the Mount Potts beds as Permian. It is not 
my object to defend the opinions of such an excellent paleontologist as 
Professor McCoy, who classifies them as Lower Carboniferous or Upper 
Devonian, but it is greatly to be regretted that we have still, 1 fear, to wait 
for an indefinite period for a reliable description of the older New Zealand 
fossils, which ought to have been published years ago, and without which . 
we are still groping in the dark. 
In the volume of Geologieal Reports, containing the geological map of 
New Zealand, I observe that Mr. Cox does not attempt to subdivide the 
Permian to Jurassic series in this Provincial District, but places them 
together for the present. He, however, separates them from the Lower 
Carboniferous or Maitai beds. 
Mr. Cox states that to the latter belong the Mount Hutt, Mount Som- 
ers and Palmer Ranges, but he fails to explain how in deep gullies near the 
very centre of the two former ranges the plant beds could occur. 
