Wellington PJdloso'pliical 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 tertiaiy foi'mation 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 tliat 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 aniple 

 collections of fossil plant remains can determine this. 



Such speculations as those on which I have lightly touched are a legitimate 

 incentiv^e 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 



