524 New Zealand Institute. 



next occupied by Mr. Cox in the examination of the geology of the 

 mountains lying between the Takaka and Aorere Valleys in the north- 

 west part of Nelson District, and, in his report, he points out the 

 importance of the mineral deposits which occur in the Lower Devonian 

 rocks. 



From September to April, Mr. McKay was engaged in geologically map- 

 ping a section between the east coast at the mouth of the Waitaki Kiver, 

 and the main watershed lying west of the Wanaka Lake. In the course of 

 this survey, he examined in detail the structure of a strip of country about 

 10 miles in average width, and extending for a distance of 120 miles inland 

 from the east coast. In the Waitaki Valley he completely cleared up the 

 evidence on which the subdivision of the Lower Tertiary and Upper Cre- 

 taceous strata had been proposed, and obtained a large addition to the col- 

 lection of fossils. He also proved the existence in the first-named range of 

 mountains of the Permian and Upper Devonian formations, and refers the 

 highly-altered slates and sandstones of the Kurow Mountains to the Lower 

 Devonian group, identifying them with the rocks of the Walter Cecil Peaks 

 south-west of Wakatipu Lake. He further found that the silicious rocks 

 charged with mineral veins, at the source of the Arrow and Shotover Eivers, 

 overlie the older schists of Central Otago, and in the higher points of the 

 Black Peak Eange found them to be traversed by dykes of igneous rocks, 

 and to afford other indications of their being probably intersected by rich 

 mineral lodes. In the Devonian formation in South-east Canterbury he 

 found a local development of white felspathic rocks charged with auri- 

 ferous pyrites, which in their mineral character closely approach the auri- 

 ferous rocks of Coromandel Peninsula, and which, on further examination, 

 may prove of importance to the miner. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The following publications have been issued by the department during' 

 the year : (1.) Fifteenth Annual Eeport of the Colonial Museum and 

 Laboratory, together with the List of Additions, etc., and an Abstract of the 

 Eesults of Analyses, 56 pp. 8vo. (2.) Fourteenth Progress Eeport of the 

 Geological Survey of New Zealand for the Season 1879-80. By Dr. Hector, 

 with maps and sections, including Eeports on Eiwaka (Cox), Mount Arthur 

 Eeefs (Cox), Eimutaka Eeefs (Cox), Eodney and Marsden Counties (Cox), 

 Southland County (McKay), Chalk in Ashley County (McKay), Selwyn 

 County, TrelisBic and Curiosity Shop Beds (McKay), Ashley and Amuri 

 Counties (McKay), Lake County (McKay), Picton Coal (McKay), Dusky 

 Sound Copper Lode (Eowe), Hindon Antimony Lode (Eowe), Waipori 

 Copper Lode (Eowe), FuHher Eeport on Dusky Sound (Eowe). 200 pp. 

 Bvo. (3.) Manual of New Zealand Coleoptera ; Part 11. By Captain 



