188 Transactions. — Zoology. 



My Researches daring Six Months' stay in Dusky Sound, commencing on the 



10th of April, 1884. 



The scenery is beautiful owing to its variety. The sound is about 

 23 miles long by 2 miles wide. There are several coves which give good 

 shelter to small vessels and boats, also a few easy landings. There are a 

 number of large and small islands, such as the Sentinel and Eesolution, 

 which are parted by the Acheron Passage from the mainland, then Long and 

 Cooper's Island, which divide the main channel and the Nine-fathom 

 Passage; there is also a small island in Super Cove not marked on the chart. 

 On the tops of most of these islands there are to be found small lakes and 

 lagoons, but the bush is very dense and the country broken. The mainland 

 ascends from the water in terraces, interrupted by many cliffs and pre- 

 cipices. Near the water is heavy bush, but higher up the vegetation is 

 smaller and denser, and on some places nearer the Alps, it is so thick that 

 I had actually to walk on the top of the scrub, or cut my way through it. 

 The scrub consists mostly of silver pine and hakehake, and there is an 

 extent of grass country well watered, with plenty of rich vegetation. I 

 think it could be used as a sheep-run if the lower land and terraces were 

 cleared to get food and shelter in the severe winter, when the Alps are 

 snowed over. At present they are inhabited by thousands of the wander 

 rats (Mus decumanus), which were a plague to me, and very destructive to 

 the birds. Beyond that are the rugged mountains, where the schist has 

 disappeared and left the colossus of granite behind, some of which are 

 covered with snow. There are many fresh-water streams in the valleys, 

 and, on top of the mountains, lakes and lagoons similar to other New 

 Zealand Alps. Strange to say, on some of them I could only find an out- 

 flow, but no inflow. When searching for life, I could find nothing but a 

 few insects. The water is clear and cold. The formation is chiefly granite 

 schist and mica schist, and I have never before noticed such a variety of 

 accessories together in any part of this or the surromiding islands of New 

 Zealand, as in Dusky Sound. Mr. Docherty informed me, and I have 

 myself seen, ruby and peacock ore, yellow sulphide, molibdenite, iron 

 pyrites, amphibole, tremolite, tourmaline, moscovite, chlorite, sphene, 

 titanium, rutile, garnet, orthoclase, asbestos, wolfram, with black and green 

 mica, varieties of quartz and spars and marble. 



A better field could not be found for students in practical geology than 

 this. The most of these accessories are found on the top of the Alps 

 where Mr. Docherty has found the seven lodes ; they are between two 

 granite dykes, bounded on the west by Mount Huge; from north-east 

 to south-west the granite cut through his lodes ; to the east is a chasm 

 which separates Mount Bender from these formations. Four lodes bearing 



