580 



Proceedings. 



specimens, illustrating tlie geology of Canada, from Mr. A. E. C. Selwyn, 

 F.E.S., the Director of the Geological Survey of the Province, have been 

 added, and a few ores of interest, collected in Cornwall, have been received 

 from Mr. J. D. Enys, F.G.S. 



The collection of New Zealand minerals and ores has been re-an:anged 

 and catalogued, and the volcanic and metamorphic rocks are now under- 

 going a more thorough chemical and microscopical examination than they 

 have hitherto received, while, at the same time, duplicate specimens are 

 being selected for exchange. 



Falaontolorjy. — The most important collection of foreign fossils added to 

 the Museum during the past year, is a series illustrating the carboniferous 

 rocks of New South Wales and Tasmania, obtained by the Director during 

 a visit to Austraha. This series has proved of great service in comparing 

 the equivalent formations in New Zealand. 



Geological Survey Collections. — These have been very ample and im- 

 portant in their bearing on the geology of the Islands, and especially in 

 relation to the Lower Mesozoic rocks, which have, until now, been very 

 imperfectly understood. 



The chief field-work of the year was the detailed survey of the Hokanui 

 range in Southland, which has, for many years, been known to present the 

 most typical development of the formations from Jurassic to Permian. 



The results obtained are fully detailed in the Geological Eeports for the 

 year, but it may be stated here, that the above formations form a strati- 

 graphical sequence, but were divided into 76 well-defined beds, the outcrops 

 of which were traced and studied in section, over an area of 32 square miles. 

 The fossils, which number over 5,000 specimens, were collected from 

 tweuty-five distinct horizons, and form a very large and important addition 

 to the palseontological data now in the Museum, which are only partially 

 arranged and worked out : — 



The total thickness of the strata represented in the sections is 21,000 

 feet, viz. : — 



Upper Oolite 3,500 



Middle Oolite 850 



Lower Oolite 2,200 



Lias and Ehfetic ... ... ... ... ... 2,000 



Permian Triassic ... ... ... ... ... 6,400 



Permian Carboniferous... ... ... ... ... 6,150 



The most remarkable feature is the great develojDment of our Infra- 

 Triassic Marine formation, characterized by a great profusion of Brachio- 

 poda, several of these forms being generically distinct from any hitherto 

 described, while there is a total absence of any true Spirifera. It is thus 



