OF THE " WEKA-PASS STOISTE OF NEW ZEALAND. Z/ / 



parts of New Zealand." Por this statement can only be supported 

 by taking the fossils of the Weka-pass Stone and the Grey Marl, 

 together with their equivalents in other parts of the colony, such as 

 the Ototara and Cobden limestones, as belonging to the Waipara 

 System. I judge this to be Dr. Hector's meaning, because a little 

 further on he says, " The Cretaceous character of the Echinodermata 

 found in the Cobden limestone, also present in the Ototara stone, 

 warrants the reference of these beds to a period anterior to that of 

 any Tertiary deposit in the islands, the oldest of which is at least 

 [? most] Middle Eocene, and separated by unconformity from the 

 underlying beds." But passing over the Tertiary MoUusca asso- 

 ciated with these Echinodermata, I cannot admit the Cretaceous 

 character of the Echinodermata themselves. Up to the present, six 

 species have been described from the Cobden limestone, belonging to 

 the genera Macropneustes, Eupatagus, Meoma, and Schizaster. It 

 was with reference to these very fossils that I wrote in 1873, in 

 the introduction to the ' Tertiary Mollusca and Echinodermata of 

 New Zealand,' that " an examination in the field of the Culverden 

 beds * showed me that these also must be transferred to the Ototara 

 group, and the Weka-pass building-stone to the lower part of the 

 same formation. This necessitated the transference of the Cobden 

 limestone also into this formation, thus eliminating from the Waipara 

 formation most of its Tertiary -loohing fossils." It must also be 

 remembered that Pecten ZittelU occurs in the Cobden limestone. 



As the Mollusca of the Waipara System have not yet been de- 

 scribed, I may be mistaken ; but my impression is, after looking 

 over the collections in the different Museums, that if the line be- 

 tween the Waipara and Oamaru Systems be taken immediately 

 above the Amuri limestone, hardly any species of Mollusca, perhaps 

 not a single one, will be found on both sides of it ; whereas if it 

 be drawn anywhere above the Weka-pass Stone there must always 

 be a large number of species found on both sides of it. 



I have already stated that no characteristic fossils have been de- 

 scribed from the Amuri limestone itself, and consequently an 

 equivalent in any other part of ISTew Zealand can only be demon- 

 strated at present by showing that it contains fossils characteristic 

 of the other beds of the Waipara System, or that it rests conformably 

 on beds containing such fossils ; and in the latter case the proof 

 would not be conclusive, as the Oamaru System might appear con- 

 formable in some places to the Waipara System. . 



Again it is true that the Coal at Whangarei and the Bay of 

 Islands, in the Province of Auckland, is overlain by green sandstones 

 and limestones containing Pecten Hochsietteri, P. ZittelU, &c., and 

 that all belong to one system. But it is on the assumption that the 

 coal and green sandstones at these places are of the same age as 

 the coal and green sandstones at the Waipara, that the argument is 

 based for considering the beds containing fossils of Tertiary aspect 

 to belong to a Cretaceo-Tertiary System. But lithological resem- 



* Called Jurassic by Dr. von Haast and Prof. M'Coy, Geol. Eeports, 1870- 

 1871, p. 29. 



Q.J.G.S. No. 163. X 



