v. Haastv — 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 mesozoic on Dr. Hector's map. 



Any one knowing the character 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 palaeozoic to the lower mesozoic ; 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 

 rocks 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 palaeontologist 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 Geological Reports, containing the geological map of 

 New Zealand, I observe that Mr. Cox does not attempt to subdivide the 

 Permian to Jurassic series m 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. 



