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Wellington Philosophical Society. 423 
reports that have not been communicated to our Transactions, but there are 
various papers on the subject by Messrs. McKerrow, Beal, and Dobson, to 
which I can refer as showing that the striking phenomena of the New Zealand 
glacier period have not been neglected by the members of the Institute. I may 
mention that the lower portions of our tertiary formation have not yet 
received much notice in our Transactions, and with the exception of one 
paper by Captain Hutton, and lists of fossils by Mr. Traill and Mr. Buchanan, 
all the information that has been obtained respecting them since the publica- 
tion of Professor Hochstetter’s work is to be found in the reports of the 
Geological Department, which, however, rather deal with local details than 
attempts at a general classification, which will not be possible till a critical 
tabulation of the large collections of fossils, a work on which I am glad to say 
Capt. Hutton is now engaged, has been effected. These formations embrace . 
a very long interval of geological time, and form several very distinct groups 
both in mineral character and in the fossils they contain, the lowest of which 
I incline to think extends into the upper secondary (cretaceous) period. The 
upper groups are marine, and the lower chiefly fluviatile and of great 
importance to the colony from its containing the principal deposits of mineral 
fuel on which we have to depend for our supplies of coal, and notwithstanding 
the comparatively modern period to which this coal formation belongs it 
„contains coal seams of a valuable character. In the associated sandstones and 
shales the flora of the period has been in many cases well preserved, and shows 
that at a period anterior to the deposit of the marine stratum the New 
Zealand area was clothed with a mixed vegetation of dicotyledonous leaves 
and ferns that in general character represent those which now constitute the 
flora of the country. 
It would appear from the recent surveys by Dr. Haast that the large 
saurian reptiles in the Amuri and Waipara beds, the collections of which have 
been added to largely during the past year by the exertions of Mr. Henry 
Travers, lived during the formation of these coal seams, and. coeval with 
them was a species of the kauri tree, the leaves of which have been found 
imbedded with the reptilian bones. May we speculate that even at this still 
more remote period, which was probably prior to the elevation of a great part 
of the Swiss Alps, New Zealand formed part of an area that possessed an 
insular flora, the peculiar characters of which have been preserved to the 
present time. Only a very skilful investigation and comparison of ample 
collections of fossil plant remains can determine this. 
Such speculations as those on which I have lightly touched are a legitimate 
incentive to research, and I therefore make no apology for the theoretical 
character of the subjects on which I have addressed you this evening, 
It is no doubt very satisfactory to have the proceedings of our Society 
