51G New Zealand Institute. 



in serpentine, reported to have been brought by the Maoris to New Zealand 

 from Hawaiki, presented by Major Wilson ; (5) two Maori carved walking- 

 sticks, purchased ; (6) twenty samples of pottery from South Sea Islands, 

 presented by His Excellency Sir Arthur Gordon ; (7) Hindoo holy writings, 

 deposited by Miss Woodward. 



Miscellaneous. 



Amongst the miscellaneous articles lately received are — (1) silver seal 

 of the Colony of New Zealand, defaced by Her Majesty in Council, pre- 

 sented by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary ; (2) seal of the Province of 

 Wellington, presented by the Government Storekeeper ; (3) collection of 

 timbers, economic vegetable substances, and casts of twelve famous nuggets, 

 etc., in exchange from the Technological Museum, Melbourne; (4) specimens 

 of quartz from Te Aroha, presented by the Hon. the Minister for Mines and 

 Mr. J. C. Firth; (5) eight glass show-cases used at the Crystal Palace Wool 

 Show, presented by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary; (6) map of Welling- 

 ton in 1841, deposited by the Hon. W. B. D. Mantell ; (7) iron pipe made 

 by Mr. P. Birley, of Auckland, deposited by Mr. W. Swanson, M.H.B. ; 

 (8) one gold, two silver, and two bronze medals awarded to the colony at 

 the Crystal Palace Wool Exhibition, presented by the Hon. the Colonial 

 Secretary; (9) portrait in oils, known as the " Molesworth Portrait," depo- 

 sited by Sir W. Fitzherbert. 



Geological Survey. 



During the past year Mr. Cox has been engaged for three months, from 

 January to March, in an examination of Cape Colville Peninsula, more 

 especially at the mining centres of the Thames, Coromandel, Waitekauri, 

 Owharoa, Waihi, and Te Aroha. The most important results which he has 

 obtained, lie in his determination of the stratification of the rocks at the 

 Thames. He has shown there that the beds of the auriferous series consist 

 of alternations of a moderately hard, compact, pyritous, tufaceous sandstone 

 (tufanite of Dr. Hector); with less pyritous beds; a similar rock, which is, 

 however, much broken up into pieces by joints; and a hard green dioritic 

 rock, which is of true fragmental origin, but which, passes at places into 

 crystalline bands which are never continuous for any great distance. It is 

 in the first of these that the reef has proved most highly auriferous, and 

 while gold does occur in them while passing through the second class of 

 country, they are not as a rule payable, and where the reefs traverse the 

 hard rocks, they are absolutely barren. He has shown that several of these 

 hard belts occur, and that where they are met with in the lower levels of 

 the mines, the gold is cut off by them, but that other belts of auriferous 

 country occur below, in which reefs have been worked. His work 

 generally tends to show that, so far from the Thames being worked out, 



