IG 



spnted well-developed teeth, yet they did not project through the gums, 

 but were included in a deep socket with the tip covei'ed in by thick fleshy 

 gums. The use of such teeth, he considered, must be limited to the 

 stimulation of the salivary glands by a i-eflex nervous process, as they 

 could neither seize, divide nor masticate the food of the whale. 



Messrs. Mantell and Travers both considered that the teeth exhibited 

 marks of the attachment of the gum round a projecting point of polished 

 enamel, and that the teeth were probably enclosed in the retractile sheath 

 of the gum. 



Dr. Hector stated that, in a recent description by Dr. Haast of a 

 whale of the same species, it was stated to have shown its teeth when 

 infuriated, which supported the view that the teeth were not completely 

 undeveloped externally. 



3. The next communication by Dr. Hector, on the interior of the North 

 Island, {See Reports of Geological Survey, 1870,) gave the leading features 

 of the geology of the Kaimanawa and Ruahine ranges, which had been 

 recently examined by him. The modern tertiary rocks that form the eastern 

 portion of the Hawke's Bay province, were described as rising in the inte- 

 rior to an altitude of 2,700 feet, but that it was probable that the Kai- 

 manawa range and cei'tain parts of the Ruahine mountains had always 

 remained as islands above the tertiary sea. The tertiary rocks comprise 

 three groups — 1. Limestone containing a large percentage of existing shells ; 

 2. Clay marls, containing few shells ; and 3. Sandstones and conglomerates 

 with irregular seams of coal, some of which might yet prove valuable as 

 fuel. The upper group is of much later date than the others, but all are 

 distinctly tertiary. The axis of slate rocks, which divided the tei'tiary 

 series at the time of the development of the conglomerates, is within twenty 

 miles of the present East Coast line, but is broken through by several 

 modern rivers which rise in the Taupo plains ; so that easy passes exist 

 from Napier to the interior, a circumstance which has an important 

 bearing on the ojjening up of the country. The Kaimanawa range is 

 formed of the same slate and sandstone rocks as the B-uahine, but it lies 

 at a considerable distance to the west of the proper axis of the island. 

 The space left between them is occupied by the same tertiary rocks as on 

 the east side, and which slope gradually to the sea coast at Wanganui. 

 As the tertiai-y rocks ai-e quite free from any trace of volcanic matter, 

 the eruption of the central volcanoes must have commenced after their 

 deposit was completed. 



In referring to the auriferous specimens which had been found on 

 Mr. Lyon's run at Kereru, Dr. Hector stated that chemical analysis had 



