OF THE " WEKA-PASS STONE " OP KEW ZEALAND. 275 



In the Weka-jyass Stone the following fossils have been found : — 

 Bones of Cetaceans, Voluta elongata, Hutton, Scalaria rotunda, 

 Hutton, Struthiolaria senex, Hutton, Pecten Hoch.stetteri, Zittel, 

 Jleoma Orawfordi, Hutton, Schizaster rotund atus, Zittel, and Fla- 

 hellum circular e, Tenison-Woods. All these are also found in other 

 parts of New Zealand in beds generally admitted to be of Upper 

 Eocene age ; and Dr. Hector even mentions StrutJuolaria senex, 

 Pecten Hoclistetteri, and Jleoma Crawfordi as characteristic of the 

 Upper Eocene rocks *. Pecten Hoclistetteri passes up also into the 

 Pareora System, and Flahellum circidare into the Pliocene beds 

 of Shakespeare's Cliff at Wanganui, in "Wellington Province. None 

 of them are known from the Waipara System f. The palaeon- 

 tological evidence is therefore altogether in favour of the Weka-pass 

 Stone belonging to the Oamaru System. 



In the Grey Marl, Dr. Hector has found Pecten Zittelli in the 

 Weka Pass J and at Amuri Eluif, and Mr. M'Kay has found it at 

 Motunau Eiver together with Dentaliura tenue, Hutton. Flabellum 

 laticostatum, Tenison- Woods, has been obtained from the Weka Pass. 

 All these fossils occur in other places in rocks belonging to the 

 Oamaru System. Pecten Zittelli was originally figured by Zittel 

 from rocks which both he and Dr. von Hochstetter considered as 

 Oligocene or Upper Eocene. None of them are known from the 

 Waipara System unless P. Zittelli extends into the Amuri lime- 

 stone. The Grey Marl must therefore be placed in the Oamaru 

 System. 



Erom the marl in the Conway Eiver have come Natica solida, Sow., 

 Solenella australis, Quoy and Gaimard, Solenella, Salicornaria im- 

 mersa, Tenison- Woods, Scolangia parvisepta, Tenison-Woods, and 

 Balanophyllia alta, Tenison-W^oods. Of these Solenella australis is 

 still living, and Natica solida is common in the Pareora System. 

 It has also been obtained in the Weka Pass, but from which rock is 

 unknown. There is nothing here to connect this bed with the Grey 

 Marl at Weka Pass and at Amuri Bluff, and its age must for the 

 present remain doubtful. 



The palseontological evidence is therefore decidedly in favour of 

 the Weka-pass Stone and the Grey Marl belonging, with the Mount- 

 Brown beds, to the Oamaru System. The Amuri limestone is 

 allowed by all to belong to the Waipara System, but as it is almost 

 unfossiliferous, there is no palgeontological evidence as to its proper 

 place. It is, however, always associated with rocks of admitted 

 Cretaceous age ; while beds containing the same fossils as those from 

 the Weka-pass Stone are found in many places in New Zealand 

 from which no rocks containing generally admitted Cretaceous fossils 

 are known §. Consequentl}^ the palseoutological break must be be- 



^ ' Qeological Eeports,' 1878-79, p. 76 ; and ' Handbook of New Zealand,, 

 2nd ed., 1883, p. 28. 



t Such is my impression. The Cretaceous MoUusca of New Zealand have 

 not yet been described. | ' Geological Eepoi'ts,' 1873-74, p. 10. 



§ The following are examples : — Lower Waikato District in Auckland, 

 Grolden Bay in ]S'elson, Brighton on the west coast of the South Island, the 

 south-eastern portion of the Canterbury Province, Oamaru in Otago, and 

 Winton in Southland. 



