292 Geology of 



East Coast ; moreover, besides a small number of ferns (one of them a 

 Pecopteris) , there are numerous remains of G-ymnogens and Endogens, 

 which I have not found at Shag Point or in the Malvern Hills. 

 However, when examining the whole series side by side, there is no 

 doubt that a good many species of plants are common to all three 

 localities, and that climate, soil, and altitude may easily account for 

 the peculiarities of the flora in each district. 



Now in regard to the fossil molluscs, both from the "Waipara and 

 the Malvern Hills, where the formation under review is most largely 

 represented, it is true that a number of them are of the same species as 

 in the Amuri district ; but, as I have already pointed out in my previous 

 reports, there has hitherto not been the least sign of the occurrence of 

 belemnites, so frequent in the latter locality; and as all the other 

 shells, with scarcely any exception, are still represented in the marine 

 fauna living at present near the coast of New Zealand and Australia, 

 I assigned to them, notwithstanding the presence of the saurian 

 remains, an eocene tertiary age. However, as Dr Hector's researches 

 hare established the fact that all the principal genera and species of 

 saurians found at the Amuri Bluff occur also at the Waipara, I have 

 included for some years past the Waipara and Malvern Hill beds in 

 his cretaceo-tertiary formation, leaving it to further research, and to a 

 careful examination of the fossils collected in those localities by a 

 competent palaeologist to settle this question finally.* 



Extent. 



This formation, with the exception of a few inland basins, skirts 

 only the foot of the Southern Alps on both sides. On the eastern 

 side it is most largely developed south of the Hurunui. It forms part 

 of the higher coast ranges stretching from the Hiver Blyth to the 

 "Waipara ; more inland it reaches from near the sources of the 

 Glenmark Creek several miles across the middle Waipara to the 

 northern foot of Mount Grey, and in the upper course of that river it 

 is also well developed. It also occurs at the foot of the ranges where 

 the Okuku and Glari rivers (tributaries of the Ashley) enter the plains. 



* One of my scientific friends in Australia informs me that true belemnites have been found there 

 in tertiary strata, hitherto considered as being of Miocene age ; but I think further confirmation is 

 wanted before such an important occurrence can be accepted as a well-established fact. 



