156 Historical Notes on the 



had been making excavations. They amply confirmed previous 

 observations that, during the Great Glacier period of ISTew Zealand, the 

 different genera of the Dinornitliid.cB had already been in existence, 

 continuing to flourish to a comparatively recent period. Towards the 

 middle of August we returned to Christchurch bringing a large and 

 valuable collection of dinornitMc remains with us. Museum and 

 Geological Survey Work occupied me now for several months without 

 interruption, and a discussion about the occurrence of a Glacial period 

 in Australia, before the Royal Society of Victoria, induced me to 

 address to that learned body a paper on the subject, in which I pointed 

 out that without doubt ample signs of such glaciation would be found 

 in the Australian Alps.* 



Some more Moa skeletons were now, under my direction, articulated 

 by Fuller, and a series of others, more or less complete, were prepared 

 for exchange with foreign countries, by means of which the Canterbury 

 Museum has received in the last eight years, and is still receiving, 

 such valuable returns that it can fairly claim as to the variety and 

 richness of its collections, to hold an honourable position amongst the 

 Museums of the Southern Hemisphere. The tunnel works having in 

 the meantime been completed, I was occupied for a number of nights 

 in finishing the survey of this highly interesting section, and collecting 

 a large series of specimens in illustration, during which the Railway 

 Engineer, Mr. E. Dobson, C.E., and the contractors, Messrs. Holmes 

 and Co., continued to give me most valuable and ready assistance. 



Journey along the Easteen Base oe the Ranges, eeom the 



GOEGE OE THE RaEAIA TO THE "WaITAKI AND TO THE SOUECES 



oe the Hakateeamea — 1S67"6S. 



Towards the middle of December I left Christchurch to begin 

 geological work on the southern banks of the Rakaia Gorge. Having 

 my head-quarters at Mr. Murray- Aynsley's picturesque station in that 

 Gorge, I devoted several days to a thorough survey of that most 

 interesting district, where, in the perpendicular rocky walls, often 

 from six to seven hundred feet high, splendid geological sections are 

 laid open. Amongst many other remarkable points of interest, the 



• Notes on the Eev. J.E. Tennison Wood's paper "On the Glacial Epoch of Australia." By 

 Jxn-rca HAasx, Ph.D., E.E.S. Transactions of Boyal Society of Victoria, Vol. VIII. 



