part 3] JURAssiCTiv^^ or new Zealand. 253 



almost exactly 5000 feet. About half-way between these two 

 points, a short distance north of Sandy Bay, there is a stratum 

 particularly rich in a lamellibranch, of which Prof. Marshall has 

 sent me specimens. The horizon is 2500 feet above the Rhsetic 

 bed. The shells here mentioned are those described on p. 269 as 

 Aucella (?) marshalli, sp. now Prof. Marshall writes that there 

 are probably many fossils to be obtained between Roaring Bay 

 and Sandy Bay ; but the coast is rough, and collecting requires 

 much time. 



Among the fossils that he sent to me for inspection are 

 Inoceramus cf. galoi Boehm from Kerrs, south-west of Nugget 

 Point, and a poorly preserved As t arte apparently belonging to the 

 group of A. spitiensis Stolickza. The poor condition of the 

 other fossils, however, prevents accurate specific determination. 



The beds are apparently the same as those at Tofo"a Point, 

 Kawhia, where the Astarte of the spitiensis group occurY. 



The North Island. 

 The Waikato District. 



The Waikato River reaches the western coast of the North 

 Island about 45 miles north of Kawhia. The Jurassic rocks are 

 found on the south side of the river-mouth, the north side being 

 covered with blown sands. The district was surveyed by Mr. S. 

 H. Cox 1 in 1876-77 ; it has been visited by Prof. Marshall, and 

 more recently by Mr. J. A. Bartrum. As at Kawhia, the Jurassic 

 deposits are unconformably overlain by Tertiary limestones. At 

 the South Heads the heels form an anticline ; the marlstones, 

 (Putataka Series) according to Mr. Cox, are highly fossiliferous, 

 and constitute the central core of the anticline, the axis of which 

 runs about due north-west. These beds are reported to be at least 

 500 feet thick, and are overlain by alternations of sandstones and 

 sandy marls, with occasional slaty beds in all of which are plant- 

 remains in a more or less perfect state of preservation, but in 

 many cases very indistinct. These are the famous plant-beds of 

 the Mataura Series. 



Mr. Bartrum has sent me a series of marine fossils which he 

 collected there. The Aucella all belong to the forms which 

 Prof. Marshall also collected at the South Heads, and resemble 

 those figured in PI. XIV, figs. 5-7, namely A. spitiensis and 

 A. blanfordiana. 



None of the species now called A. plicata, by Boehm, of the 

 Inoceramus-liaasti Beds of Kohai Point, Kawhia, appear in the 

 collection. The remaining fossils include Trigonia sp. (very 

 obscure) ; also Parallelodon egertonianus Stoliczka, a small 

 specimen ; a small radially-ribbed and thick-shelled bivalve, 



1 ' Report on the Waikato District ' N.Z. Geol. Surv. : Rep. Geol. Explor. 

 1877, p. 19. 



