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continued six miles on No. 2 road-line, in the direction of Wangaehu, and six 

 miles on No. 3 road-line, up the river ; also, as far north as Patea for forty 

 miles along the sea coast, at various points between the Kai Iwi and Waitotara 

 rivers, and between the Whenuakura and Patea rivers. 



Over the area thus surveyed, the beds are uniformly the same, so that it is 

 unnecessary to protract a section of each particular locality. 



In some places they are slightly disturbed — as for instance opposite the 

 town of Wanganui — but, on the whole, they strike in North and South line, 

 with a dip of 10° to 15° to the East; the blue clay stratum which I shall 

 describe, keeping, in general, parallel with the drainage level of the countiy. 



The formation consists of an upper sandy, and lower clay stratum, and 

 separated by a deposit of sand of varying thickness, being at least twelve feet 

 in Shakespere cliff, at Wanganui, the whole covered by a heavy deposit of 

 sands and gravels, containing a cemented gravel bed also of variable thickness, 

 the material from which is in common use for the construction of roads 

 throughout the district. 



Along the sea coast the blue clay rises to a height of from one to forty 

 feet above the sea level. A few shells appear to be confined to this deposit, 

 such as Murex* No. 2, Pecten No. 2, and Mytilus No. 2. A few others 

 decrease upwards in the series such as Ancillaria, Murex No. 1, Fusus No. 2, 

 Pecten No. 1, and Ostrea No. 2. Again, a few shells, poorly represented in 

 the blue clay, become very numerous in the upper bed, such as Lucina No. 2, 

 Potella, Waldheimia, and Imperator imperialis. 



The upper bed of the series has generally an open sandy matrix, varying 

 in thickness from four feet at Shakespere cliff, to over a hundred feet at the 

 lower cliffs below Putiki pa ; the blue clay, or lower bed, scarcely showing 

 there above the river level. 



In this upper bed the following species occur for the first time, in addition 

 to those mentioned as common to both formations : 



Ostrea ingens, 



Cardium No. 2, 



Tapes, 



Ostrea No. 3, 



Pecten No. 7, 



Tellina, 



Pectunculus No. 1, 



Mactra No. 1, 



Pileopsis, 



Pectuncidus No. 3, 



Mactra No. 2, 



Triton, 



Pecten No. 3, 



Donax, 



Myadora. 



(Extinct forms are in italics.) 



There is every probability that, in addition to the above two beds, an older 

 stratum exists, more inland, characterized by the presence of Cucullsea, and if 

 the blue clay of the Patea river should prove to belong to this lower bed, the 

 proportion of extinct species in the Wanganui beds would be considerably 

 diminished. 



Napier Beds (Upper Tertiary). 



The fossils collected at Napier are too few to determine the relative 

 position of the Limestone formation there ; but there is no doubt that several 

 of them are identical with those of the Upper Wanganui beds, and probably 

 belong to the same period. 



Blue Clay-marl. Kanierei River, Westland. 



Of the fifteen species collected at Hokitiki, every one of them are 

 common at Wanganui, so that it may be inferred that they belong to the 

 same period. 



* Instead of attempting to give scientific names, the numbers by which each specimen 

 is distinguished in the Museum, is employed. — Ed. 



