Canterbury and Westland, • 267 



included — belong to this formation, which he considers to be of 

 palaeozoic age, but he excludes from it all the lower ranges lying east 

 of the former, to which he assigns a much younger age. 



Thus to his Matai formation, which he now considers to be triassic, 

 he assigns — although no fossils characteristic of that formation have 

 ever been found in the whole Province of Canterbury or east of 

 the Kaikouras — the western portion of the Malvern Hills, the Oxford 

 Hills, and all the smaller ranges east of the sources of the Ashley 

 river, notwithstanding that many of the rocks in those districts have 

 sometimes a far more altered texture than those which compose the 

 higher ranges lying to the west of the zone in question. And 

 finally, the eastern portion of the Malvern Hills, the small ranges 

 near Heathstock, and the isolated Black Hills, he places in his 

 Putataka formation, to which he now assigns a lower Jurassic age, 

 relying principally on some impressions of ferns found in the Malvern 

 Hills and in some other localities, which he considers identical with 

 those obtained from some beds of Port Waikato, Auckland, and 

 "Waikava, Otago. 



Now, considering the age of the Black Hills, where no fossils have ever 

 been found, and judging from the lithological character of the rocks 

 -alone, they clearly belong to Captain Hutton's Kaikoura, or my Mount 

 Torlesse formation, as they contain the same chertose altered beds as 

 we find in the very heart of the Southern Alps. In fact, a series of 

 rocks from that locality, and another from the Biver Cass (Upper 

 "Waimakariri) placed in the position of their sequence side by side, 

 •cannot be distinguished from each other, except by the labels attached 

 to them. In regard also to the Malvern Hills, his whole arrangement 

 cannot be accepted if we carefully study the sections in the district. 

 These sections clearly show, first, that his so-called Putataka beds 

 underlie his Matai beds, of which, amongst many other localities, a 

 clear section is exhibited on the right bank of the Selwyn. On the 

 northern or left bank of that river, the fern beds (his Putataka 

 formation) are separated by an outlier of cretaceo-tertiary age 

 (Hart's coal measures) from the higher ranges to the west, but 

 crossing the river they can be followed on the southern side without 

 any break till they disappear below that vast assemblage of rocks 

 consisting of cherts, marbles, and diabasic ashes, alternating with 

 large beds of sandstones, slates, and shales, overlying them con- 

 formably ; consequently the fern beds cannot belong to Captain 



