GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 199 



Merino Mts., Lyell Mts., Brunner Mts., Victoria Mts., "Werner Mts., 

 and along the westerly hsise of the 'New Zealand Alps into Otago, 

 where it again expands considerably, and turning eastward with 

 the anticlinal axis, covers the greater part of the interior of that 

 province, reaching the sea in the neighbourhood of Dunedin. The 

 centre of the secondary anticlinal fold in S. Canterbury (fig. 1, e) 

 and the one in Marlborough (/*.•) are also occupied by these rocks. 



In the north-west part of the JS'elson Province, the Takaka 

 System can be divided into three series, all of which appear to be 

 conformable. The lowest of these is the Mt. Arthur Series, which 

 consists principally of crystalline limestone with bituminous and 

 micaceous schists. This series has yielded to Mr. A. M'^Kay, the 

 indefatigable assistant of the Geological Survey, a few Crinoids and 

 a Coral. The middle or Aorere Series is formed principally by blue 

 slates, but also contains sandstones as well as felspathic and quart- 

 zose schists. In the slates, Mr. J. L. Morley and Mr. S. H. Cox have 

 collected Graptolites, some of which appear to be identical with 

 Australian Ordovician forms. The upper or Baton-River Series 

 consists of calcareous slates and argillaceous limestones with slates 

 and sandstones. The following list of the " more important or 

 abundant " fossils of this series is given by Mr. M^Kay * : — 



Calymeiie Blumenbachii. Ehynchonella Wilsoni. 



Homalonotus Knightii. Stricklandia lyrata. 



Orthoceras. Atrypa reticularis. 



Murchisonia terebralis. Orthis. 



Avictda lamnoniensis. Strophomena corrugatella. 



Pterinea spinosa. Chonetes striatella. 

 Spirifera radiata. 



It also contains many corals and corallines. 



Possils of the Baton-river Series have been found as far south as 

 Eeefton, and in addition Spirifera vespertilio and Homalonotus ex- 

 pansus, Hector t ; but beyond that the metamorphism gets more 

 pronounced, and the rocks of the system pass altogether at the base 

 into chlorite-schist and quartzose mica-schist, with occasional beds 

 of graphite (Wanaka Series), and in the upper parts into phyllites 

 with clay-slate and quartzite (Kakanui Series). No calcareous 

 rocks are known in the south. 



The thickness of this system in Otago cannot, I think, be less 

 than 100,000 feet ; but in the JN'elson Province Dr. Hector estimates 

 it at from 15,000 to 18,000 feet only. 



The junction of the Takaka with the underlying Manapouri 

 System can be studied in the Eiwaka Mountains, west of Tasman's 

 Bay, and here Mr. S. H. Cox has shown a complete unconformity 

 between the two $ (fig. 2, b and c). 



* '.Reports of Geological Survey, 1878-9, p. 126. 

 t Trans. N. Z. Institute, vol ix. p. 602 (1877). 

 I Eeports of Geological Survey, 1879-80, p. 2, Section A.A. 



