Canterbury and Westland. 293 



Another important zone forms the eastern portion of the Malvern 

 Hills, in which more to the west a few isolated basins belonging to it 

 havo been preserved, for instance, in the upper course of the Wekaepa, 

 or Selwyn proper, and on the banks of the Kowai, a tributary of the 

 Waimakariri river. Important isolated basins are situated north-west 

 of the Thirteen-Mile Bush range, at the head of Macfarlane's stream, 

 and north-west of Mount Torlesse in the Broken Eiver basin. 

 Although there are a few localities south of the gorge of the Eakaia 

 which, judging from the impression of leaves, might be referred to 

 this formation, (as, for instance, some beds of shales on the southern 

 banks of the upper Kakahu and some small outliers with seams of 

 brown coal between the Opihi and Opuhaj, I have thought it more 

 convenient not to separate these outliers from the next formation, by 

 which they appear to be overlaid conformably. On the "West Coast we 

 oan include the Grey Coal Measures as far as the Cobden limestone, and 

 a portion of which crosses into Westland, with the Waipara formation. 

 There is also a small outlier at the Kanieri, containing seams of coal 

 of inconsiderable thickness, which has to be classed with it. For a 

 great distance along the coast all rocks belonging to this formation are 

 hidden below morainic accumulations till we approach the Paringa 

 river, where several miles north of its estuary it is again largely 

 developed, forming a strip several miles broad, and reaching to the 

 Waita river. After a considerable interval we meet it again at 

 Jackson's Bay, whence we can follow it to the southern boundary of 

 the Province, always exhibiting the characteristic feature of littoral 

 deposits. 



Sequence and Character oe Eocks, Position oe Strata, Fossil 



Contents. 

 I have already stated that the last formation, consisting almost 

 exclusively of igneous rocks of submarine origin was in its turn 

 uplifted and brought within the influence of marine and sub -serial 

 action, so that the strata composing it were not only greatly 

 destroyed, and their outlines considerably changed, but also beds of 

 conglomerate, often of enormous thickness, were deposited along their 

 base, of which we have a notable instance in the Malvern Hills. In 

 other localities, where these eruptive rocks did not exist, the con- 

 glomerate was either formed from boulders and pebbles of palaeozoic 

 sedimentary rocks in the neighbourhood, or loose sandy beds were 



