249 



series increases in thickness from Port Waikato southwards, the Papakura 

 series increases in thickness from Papakura northwards. 



Professor Hochstetter, when assigning a position to the Papakura series, 

 appears to have been too much influenced by the apparently intermediate 

 character of its fossils, between those of the Aotea and Waitemata series, so that 

 when, in his lecture, he placed the Waitemata series in its true position, he 

 made the Papakura series younger than parts of the Aotea series, and when 

 he subsequently classed the Waitemata series with the Brown coal, he placed 

 the Papakura series in its pi-obably true position below the Aotea series. 



The connection between the Papakura and Waitemata series was supposed 

 to consist in the occurrence of Pecten Fischeri, Pecten, sp., gvou'^ pleuronectes, 

 and casts of Vaginella in both, but Dr. Zittel has expi-essed doubts as to the 

 specific identity of the Oi-akei Pectens with those from Papakura, and I have 

 since found both species in the Aotea series, so that the connection now rests 

 solely on the supposed casts of the interior of Vaginella shells being found in 

 both. 



That the sandstone that overlies the Aotea series on the west coast between 

 Port Waikato and Raglan, is to be referred to the Waitemata series, is not so 

 certain, the only reasons being that both are nearly destitute of fossils, except 

 traces of plants, and both lie unconformably on the closely-related Aotea and 

 Papakura series, while they are also both anterior to the basaltic outbursts. 

 The interval, however, between these dates is far too great to speak with con- 

 fidence on the synchronism of the two ; all that can be said at present is, that 

 if the West Coast beds are not the equivalents of the Waitemata series, they 

 are probably younger than them. 



Comparison between the Proposed Arrangement of the Rocks with those 

 of Professor Hochstetter. 



Hochstetter. 



Proposed. 





Probable age. 



Lecture. 



Book. 



1 



2 



3 



2 



4 



4 



1 

 2 

 1 

 3 



5 



1 



2 

 3 

 4 



6 



Waitemata series ..... 



UNCONFORMITY. 



Limestone of ilaglan and Kawhia "^ S 



'u 

 <o 

 Sandstone of Pt. Waikato & Aotea \ %^ 



CD 



Clays of Raglan, Aotea, &c. ^ ^ r 

 Papakura series J 



UNCONFORMITY. 



Brown coal series .... 



Upper Miocene 



Oligocene. 

 Eocene. 



2 K 



