562 CAPT. p. TV. HTJITOIs ON THE COEEELATIONS OE THE 



not between these latter and the Cretaceo-Tertiary, as supposed by 

 Dr. Hector *. 



I fail therefore to see any unconformity between the Upper 

 Eocene and the Cretaceo-Tertiary near Oamaru. In his Progress 

 Report for 1881 (Geol. Eeports, 1881, p. xxiii), Dr. Hector says, 

 " In the Waitaki Yalley, and in the same district as far south as 

 the mouth of the Kakanui Eiver, Tertiary rocks, comprising lime- 

 stones and calcareous greensands belonging to the Upper Eocene 

 period, are present, resting indifferently on various members of the 

 Cretaceo-Tertiary series;" and in the ' Sixteenth Annual Eeport of 

 the Colonial Museum,' published in 1882, Dr. Hector says that 

 "in the Waitaki Yalley he [Mr. M'^Kay] completely cleared up 

 the evidence on which the subdivision of the Lower Tertiary and 

 Upper Cretaceous strata had been proposed, and obtained a large 

 addition to the collection of fossils " (p. 7) f. I have carefully ex- 

 amined Mr. M*^Kay's ' Keport on the Geology of the Waitaki 

 Yalley ' (I. c. p. 56), for proofs of this statement, but without much 

 success, almost all the cases given referring to unconformity of the 

 Pareora system, and not to the Hutchinson's-quarry beds. The 

 rocks are said to be as under (see Map, fig. 2) : — 



Upper Eocene. 



1. Hutchinson's-Quarry Beds : Greensands full of Waldheimia triangularis 

 (Hutton). 



2. Otakaika Limestone : a calcareous greensand^Nummulitic Limestone. 



3. Kekenodon Beds : marly greensands restricted to Wharekauri. 



Cretaceo-Tertiary. 



4. Grey marls : grey sands. 



r r JViaerewhenua Limestone: a calcareous greensand | =Ototara Lime- 

 ■ \ Waihao Limestone : a white limestone. j stone. 



6. Marly Greensands. 



7. Island Sandstone : loose sandy beds with bands of calcareous rock. 



8. Coal-beds. 



There is no stratigraphical continuity between these rocks and 

 those at Oamaru ; and in no locality is the Otakaika limestone seen 

 to overlie the Maerewhenua limestone. Mr. M'^Kay certainly says 

 that " on stratigraphical grounds the Maerewhenua limestone must 

 be regarded as distinct from the Otakaika limestone" (Geol. Reports, 

 1881, p. 66), and that he will give the evidence further on in his 

 Eeport ; but I have not been able to find it. It would seem therefore 

 that the correlations must depend upon palaeontological evidence ; but 

 no lists of fossils are given. Mr. M*^Kay's line of proof seems to be 

 different. He says, " In either locality [Oamaru and Maerewhenua] 



* In his last Report Mr. M^Kay has omitted this outher. He now says that 

 " all the strata developed west of the Waireka Valley and lower part of the 

 Kakanui River pass under the higher part of the Cretaceo-Tertiary series repre- 

 sented by the Ototara calcareous sandstone, aU Eocene and Miocene strata 

 lying to the eastward of the great limestone scarp " (Geol. Rep. 1883-4, p. 62). 

 But he gives no reasons for this change, and it is against the palaeontological 

 evidence. 



t See also Trans. N. Z. Institute, vol. xiv. p. 524. 



