part 3] THE TRIAS or new Zealand. 169 



A. A Dielasma closely resembling- the Permian D. elongata occurs in them. 



B. He identified the Rhynchonellids of the Halorella group with the 



Permian genus Camarophoria. 



C. He compared the alate Spiriferinse with the Permian Spirifer alatus, 



which is not a Spiriferina, but a true Spirifer devoid of punctate shell 

 or median dorsal septum. Even Prof. C. Diener was not certain on 

 this point, and speaks of Spiriferina alata} The error is due to King, 

 but was corrected by Davidson. 



D. The Spiriferinse of the group of Sp. fragilis bear a certain resemblance to 



the Permian Spiriferina cristata. 



E. The flat dorsal valve of a spiny Mentzelia, to which I have given the 



generic name Mentzeliopsis, seems to have suggested to Hector the 

 genus Streptorhynchus, which appears in his list of Kaihiku fossils. I 

 myself thought when I collected it that it was some Paleozoic survival, 

 until, after I had ground down a specimen with both valves conjoined, 

 the spiralia in it became apparent. 



Hector and others sometimes speak of the whole or part of the 

 Otapiri Series as Rhsetic. As there is apparent!}^ a perfectly 

 conformahle passage from the Wairoa to the Bastion Series, the 

 intermediate heds may by analogy be called Khsetic. But, on an 

 examination of the fossils, the correlation seems to be valid also 

 on palseontological gromids. The large specialized Spirigerid to 

 Avhich I have given the new generic name Hecforia shows decided 

 affinities with the Alpine Khsetic form Sjjirigera oxycolpos Emm- 

 rich, the largest and latest of the Alpine Spirigerids, 



Briefly stated, the following are the points in which the results 

 •of my work contrast with the previous views on these beds :— 



a. The great tmfossiliferous series beneath the lowest fossiliferous horizon 

 in the Kaihiku represents the Middle and possibly part of the Lower 

 Trias. It is possible, though very unlikely, that some fossils will in 

 future be found in the Kaihiku Series below the above-mentioned 

 horizon. 



h. The Kaihiku fauna, the lowest fossiliferous Mesozoic horizon in New 

 Zealand, is either Upper Ladinic or Lower Carnic — that is, late Middle 

 or early Upper Trias, and not Permian, as was hitherto supposed. 



■c. The higher fossiliferous horizons, which are always separated in clear 

 sections by several hundred feet from that of the Kaihiku, are all 

 Upper Trias. The Oreti and lower part of the Wairoa are Carnic, and 

 yield a prolific fauna. The upper part of the Wairoa and lower part of 

 the Otapiri are Noric, and contain Psendomoiwtis in great abundance. 

 The remainder of the Otapiri is Rhaetic. 



■d. The only forms that seem to survive the Trias, and may be identical 

 with Triassic species, are a form of the Spirigerid genus Hectoria and 

 some of the belemnites of the Atractites group, the large phragmocones 

 of which occur in the Jurassic beds. 



e. I found no fossil in the New Zealand Trias that could be identified 

 with any English Permian species, so many of which occur in Hector's 

 lists. 



/. I can see no reason why any of the New Zealand Triassic forms should be 

 regarded as local isolated survivals from Palaeozoic times, as has some- 

 times been suggested.- The fauna is a normal Upper Triassic one, 



^ Bibliography, 11, p. 2. ■^ Bibliography, 37, p. 69. 



