GEOLOGY OF ly'EAV ZEALAND. 213 



as if the rise were tolerably regular from Auckland to Banks's 

 Peninsula ; but we must remember that the observations are still 

 very imperfect ; indeed I believe that the sea stood much higher 

 than 800 feet in Canterbury *. The remarkable river-terraces found 

 throughout the South Island and the southern and central portions 

 of the iS'orth Island furnish collateral proof of elevation. They do 

 not occur in the north part of Xew Zealand, where also there are no 

 raised beaches. 



Peat-mosses. — Several ancient peat-mosses have been examined in 

 the South Island, such as those of Waikouaiti and Hamilton in 

 Otago, and Glen mark in Canterbury. They appear to be very 

 similar in character, and I take the one at Hamilton as an example, 

 as I explored it myself t. This was a smaU dry basin, about 50 feet 

 in diameter and from 5 to 6 feet deep in the deepest part, excavated 

 out of a bed of clay. This small basin was filled with peat and bones 

 inextricably mixed and forming a compact layer from two to four 

 feet thick, and before being disturbed its surface was rather higher 

 than the surrounding country, which was quite flat for a distance of 

 200 yards. Out of the small hole there were taken about 7 tons 

 Aveight of Moa-bones, more than half of them quite rotten, the 

 remains of at least 400 birds J. A great quantity of quartz gravel 

 occurred among the bones, some of the stones going up to one or 

 two pounds, and one piece of rock weighed between 10 and 12 

 pounds. Probably this bog was but the remains of a much larger 

 one. Besides Moa-bones there were found abundant remains of 

 Cnemiornis, and a few bones of Harjpagornis and Apteryx^ as well 

 as a number of small birds not yet determined : also several bones 

 of Sphenodon punctatum. The bones were not waterworn, neither 

 were they broken. I collected from the peat the following land- 

 and fresh-water shells: — Thalassia ohnubila, Heeve, and Limncea 

 leptosoma^ Hutton. The former is now common near Dunedin, 

 but requires damp bush to live in. The latter is not now known 

 iu the South Island, but is found near Wellington. 



Diluvial Epoch. — The Mollusca of the north of New Zealand 

 differ sufficiently from those of the south to make any migration 

 which might take place in either direction easily distinguishable §. 

 But neither in the "Wanganui System nor in the raised beaches is 

 there any trace of a northerly migration, i^either are there any 

 signs of a Pleistocene glaciation of N'ew Zealand greater than at 

 present. Consequently there is no evidence to show that the high 

 eccentricity of the earth's orbit that prevailed in Pleistocene times 

 produced a Glacial epoch here. But there are several facts which 

 appear to support the view that this high eccentricity produced a 

 diluvial epoch by causing greater winter snowfall and greater 

 summer floods. 



* Trans. N. Z. Inst. xtI. p. 449. 

 ■^ See Booth in Trans. N. Z. Inst. vii. p. 123. 



\ Dr. von Haast thinks that at least 1000 birds were imbedded in the 

 Glenmark bog. 



§ Trans. IN". Z. Inst. viii. p. 383. 



