186 



rock to be a coarse-grained red or grey granite, which is traversed by veins of 

 granite of more recent date and a lighter colour, and afterwards pierced and 

 shattered by dykes and injected veins of hornblendic trap or greenstone. 

 Most interesting sections abound, clearly displaying the facility with which the 

 trap rock has penetrated the granite in all directions, most probably, however, 

 only following and expanding previously-existing lines of fissure. 



No minerals of interest or value were observed, although several might 

 reasonably be exjjected to occur in this formation under the above conditions. 



On the beach of one small cove that is surrounded by lofty cliffs, and 

 situated in the north bay of the harbour, the sand is almost wholly of magnetic 

 oxide of iron, in a very minute state of division, but neither gold nor tin was 

 associated with it. The hollows between the ridges and bosses of granite are 

 filled up with an unstratified deposit of stiff yellow clay, containing sub-angular 

 boulders of large size . 



In Paterson Inlet no other rock was observed but coarse-grained granite, 

 which decomposes with great facility to a coarse sandy clay. This granite is 

 irregular, from its containing nodules of compact fine-grained granite, so that it 

 is probably only an extreme form of metamorphic rock. 



In Ruapuke Island, at the eastern entrance of Foveaux Straits, it is 

 worthy of note, that the granite and hornblende rock is traversed by quartz 

 veins containing large masses of iron pyrites, that yield minute traces of gold. 



Art. XLI"V. — Notes on a Collection of Saurian Remains from, the Waipara 

 River, Canterbury, in the possession of J. H. Coekburn Hood, Esq. By 

 Julius Haast, Ph.D., F.RS. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, June 2, 1869.] 



Through the cotirtesy of Mr. J. Hood, I have been allowed to inspect, and 

 study, the numerous Saurian remains obtained by him in the Waipara, and 

 now on their way to Europe ; and our member, my friend, Mr. T. D. Triphook, 

 at my request, has kindly made a drawing, in natural size, of the principal 

 pieces in that collection, which includes the greater part of a large Saurian 

 head, a truly unique specimen. I also made drawings, and took measurements, 

 of all the more important specimens, so that in case the collection should not reach 

 its destination, the information at least, will not be altogether lost to the scientific 

 world. These remains are generally inclosed in large concretions of arenaceous 

 limestone, having the appearance of bouldei's. Some of these are nearly 

 perfect spheres ; they are very hard, and split generally only with great 

 difficulty, and quite in a different direction from what one would expect. 



The collection made by Mr. Hood in the Waipara and its tributaries 

 contains bones of all parts of the skeleton, belonging not only to many 

 different specimens, but also to many species, or even genera and orders. 



The principal specimen in Mr. Hood's collection, referred to above, consisted 

 of the portions of a large block which had been split in two. On the one side, 

 the upper jaw and portions of the skull are preserved ; on the other, portion 

 of the lower jaw, of which a fragment is exposed on the larger slab. Judging 

 from the size of these remarkable remains, the skull of the animal, to which 

 they belonged, must have been 3 to 3^ feet long, and, consequently, part of an 

 animal which had a total length of 18 to 20 feet. 



The teeth, of an oblong form, are from f to 1J inches long, the dentine 

 being intensely black, and marked by numerous fine longitudinal grooves. 



Professor Owen's description (p. 301) of the dentition of the Crocodilians, 

 is as follows : — " The teeth of both the existing and extinct Crocodilian reptiles 



