Wellington Philosojjhical Society. 533 



ABSTRACT. 



After describing the extent and position of the various coal-fields at present worked, 

 he stated that from a comparison of the fossils he had arrived at the following results : — 



Cretaceous epoch : Chief New Zealand coal ; wanting in Tasmania and Australia, 

 except, perhaps, in Queensland. 



Jurassic epoch : Mataura series of New Zealand ; Cape Paterson coal-fields of Vic- 

 toria ; Clarence Eiver coal of New South Wales, and the coal-beds at Hobarton. 



Liassic epoch : Clent Hill beds of New Zealand; wanting in Tasmania and Australia, 

 except Queensland. 



Triassic epoch : Wairoa beds of New Zealand ; upper coal formation of New South 

 Wales ; wanting in Tasmania. 



Permio-carboniferous : Kaihiku series of New Zealand ; lower coal formation of New 

 South Wales ; Mersey coal-fields of Tasmania. 



This view of the relative ages of those formations had just received remarkable 

 confirmation by a late discovery ; Mr. McKay, of the Geological Survey Department, who 

 has recently been at work in the Canterbury Alps, having found plant-beds beneath the 

 Spirifer beds of Mount Potts that are full of the leaves of the Glossopteris — a fern very 

 characteristic of the ujjper and middle coal formations of New South Wales, and with 

 them beds of graphite of considerable commercial value, which represents in an altered 

 form the Newcastle coal-seams. Along with these occur remains of Saurian reptiles of 

 immense size, of which large collections have been made. In conclusion, it was stated 

 that only a very small portion of the area, coloured on the map of New South Wales as 

 coal formation, contains valuable coal-seams, and that they were not without drawbacks. 

 At Newcastle, where the principal collieries are situated, the seams have to be worked 

 to an increasing depth by shafts, and require pumping. In the southern coal-field, the 

 coal is worked by adits into the face of the mountain, and lowered by steep inclines in 

 the same manner as our own Buller coal will be worked ; but it has to be shipped from 

 an exposed coast. The western district coal has all to be carried over the Blue Moun- 

 tains by a railway that ascends and descends by zigzags, that answer well enough for 

 passengers and light traffic, but must be rather costly for transporting coal. Dr. Hector 

 stated that all he had seen increased his confidence in the value of our West Coast 

 coal-fields, both as regards the quality and extent of the coal and the facilities for 

 working them. 



5. Dr. Hector described various recent additions to the Museum, which were ex- 

 hibited : (1.) Ventral spines of a species of Banks' oar-fish, Eegalecus gladius, recently 

 cast up on the Farewell Spit, and presented by Mr. H. L. Wilson. Unfortunately, the 

 whole of this rare species had not been procured, but a full-sized drawing was shown. It 

 is Hke the fi-ost-fish, but thirteen feet long, and one foot deep, with a high crest over the 

 head, and the ventral fins reduced to two long rays or spines, which are elongated above 

 the body, and furnished with an oval expansion of membrane at the tip. The colours of 

 the fish are very bright and metallic. (2.) A specimen of the sea-trout (Salmo trutta), 

 caught with rod and artificial fly in the Tasmanian fish-ponds, was shown, and compared 

 with specimens at all stages of growth of the same fish reared in New Zealand. The 

 distinct manner in which the specific characters were preserved in them, and also in a 

 number of brown trout also exhibited, is opposed to the theory advanced by some that 

 the Tasmanian fish are being hybridized. 



Some other interesting fish were also exhibited, forming a small part of a large 

 collection presented by Mr. William Macleay, F.L.S., of Sydney. 



