Fifteenth Annual Report. 541 



the occurrence of rootlets from the base of the beds upwards, while at Hills- 

 borough the evidence was yet more conclusive. At Timaru and Oamaru he 

 examined beds of similar origin, and found that in these localities the ma- 

 terials of which they are composed are not of local origin, as is evidenced 

 by the presence of mica. At the mouth of the Kakanui Eiver he traced the 

 so-called gem-stones, which consist chiefly of pyrope, olivine, and augite, 

 to their parent rock in the Waireka tufas, which it appears the Hon. Mr. 

 Mantell had previously discovered as far back as 1850, when he called the 

 cliffs on the south side of the Kakanui Eiver the Euby Cliffs. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Palmerston he examined the section across the Horse Eange, 

 finding the Port Chalmers breccia at the base of the Shag Point series, and 

 occurring along the line of fault previously described by Mr. Cox. He col- 

 lected specimens at Waihemo, Green Valley, and Pigroot, those from Green 

 Valley being identical with the fossils of the coal beds in the Waitaki Valley. 

 At Naseby he examined the shaft and surrounding country in Hogburn 

 Creek, where the Deep Sinking Prospecting Company is situated ; this shaft 

 has proved nothing more than could be equally well seen from the surface. 

 There is yet another hundred feet to sink before reaching the main bottom, 

 where there is a good prospect of gold occurring. He examined the country 

 from Clarke's to the Kyeburn Diggings, and found the rocks there to belong 

 to the Te Anau series. In the neighbourhood of St. Bathans he found 

 small patches of volcanic rocks in the Manuherikia Valley, breaking through 

 the old lacustrine deposits of the district. He then made a further collec- 

 tion of fossils from Nugget Point, obtaining some important additions to 

 the fossils of that district, including an ammonite about 18 inches in 

 diameter across the chambered portion, which would give a diameter of 

 about 3 feet for the perfect shell. In the neighbourhood of Catlin's Eiver 

 he examined the Mataura beds, in which boreholes had been put down for 

 coal with unsatisfactory results. He found nothing which leads him to 

 suppose that workable seams of coal will be found here, the conditions being 

 similar to those at the Toitois and Hokonui Eanges. During May he 

 visited the Wairarapa, and made an examination of the Cretaceous rocks 

 along the coast, the most important discovery made being a series of 

 volcanic rocks occurring as dykes, and sheets in them. In June he visited 

 the Terawhiti Gold Field, and made a general examination of the district, 

 paying special attention to the Golden Crown claim, in which the reefs 

 appear to be very broken, but unquestionably containing a percentage of 

 gold which will be remunerative if the reefs hold. 



Collections. 

 During the intervals of field work Mr. Cox has been engaged on an 

 examination of the New Zealand minerals, and has embodied the results of 



