245 



I thei-efore propose now to place on i-ecord the evidence in favour of the 

 conchisions I then arrived at, and which I have since seen no reason to alter. 



Commencing with the Waikato coal field, we find on the right bank of the 

 river, just opposite to the present mine, the section given by Professor 

 Hochstetter in his New Zealand, p. 302, of the Brown coal series resting 

 unconformably on the old slate formation of the Taupiri Range. The left bank 

 of the river shows a somewhat similar section, the slate rocks being seen in the 

 bed of the river, below the mine. At the mine, the coal series consists of — 



1. Yellow sandy clay, with nodules of clay ironstone . 230 + feet. 



2. Upper fire-clay, dark blue ..... 12-14 



3. Shale, with leaves of dicotyledons ... 4 



4. Brown coal .... .... 12-18 



5. Lower fire-clay, light blue . . . . . 20 



6. Light colotired clays, with ironstone . . . 30-100 -i- 

 The fossils found in the bed No. 3 are leaves of dicotyledonous plants only '> 

 they are probably abundant, bu.t it is only when the roof of the coal is being 

 worked that they can be obtained. None of them have as yet been des- 

 cribed. About seven miles west of the river, the coal series ends abruptly, 

 and beds of calcareous sandstone rest on its denuded slopes. (Section I.) This 

 sandstone belongs to a series extensively developed on the west coast, which, 

 in my report previously alluded to, I called the " Aotea series." It consists of — 



1. Crystalline and tabular limestone of Raglan and Kawhia. 



2. Calcareous sandstone of Aotea and Port Waikato. 



3. Sandy clay of Aotea and Raglan, passing into marl further north. 



4. Limestone south of Port Waikato. 



Its characteristic fossils are Schizaster rotundatus, Zitt. ; Ostrea WuUerstorfi, 

 Zitt. ; Pecten athleta, Zitt. ; P. Burnetii, Zitt. ; P. Williamsoni, Zitt. ; 

 P. Hochstetteri, Zitt. ; Cucullma singularis, Zitt. ; Scalaria lyrata, Zitt. ; two 

 species of Dentalium, and Cristellaria Haasti, Stache. The upper parts are 

 recognized by Pecten Burnetii, Scalaria lyrata, and Ostrea Wullerstorfi ; the 

 lower by Cuculcea singularis and the two species of Dentalium. Foraminiferoe 

 abound, especially in the lower part of the series, and these have been con- 

 sidered by Dr. Stache to indicate an age about equivalent to that of the 

 Mayence Basin, which is classed as Lower Miocene by some geologists, and as 

 Upper Eocene by others. Of twelve species of shells from this series, one 

 only, Waldheimia lenticularis, Desh., is recent. 



Lying unconformably on the top of the Aotea series is a mass of reddish 

 yellow sandstone, interstratified here and there with seams of bluish clay, 

 containing indistinct plant remains, e. g., between Kaha and Kara Points, and 

 north of Waikorea. The sandstone itself appears to be devoid of fossils, with 

 the exception of a few impressions of dicotyledonous leaves, which I found 

 near Kaha. Further north, at Nga-tutura, it is seen to be broken through by 



