Canterbury and Westland. 315 



or even as fresh water deposits ; however, there is no doubt that 

 afterwards the country sank again considerably below the sea-level, 

 because beds belonging to this formation can be traced in the Southern 

 Alps to an altitude of 5000 feet, unless we assume that some portion 

 of the ranges underwent greater subsidence and elevation than others, 

 for which, at least on so large a scale, no evidence can hitherto be 

 found. Thus after the cretaceo -tertiary beds had been raised in 

 succession to near or above the sea-level, during which they were so 

 much destroyed that only in favourable localities some portions were 

 preserved, new beds, first of littoral origin, and afterwards, as the 

 country gradually sank, of a more pelagic character, were deposited 

 above them. Of course the beds in question are not quite coeval, 

 although occupying the same relative positions, as it is evident that 

 those strata in the higher regions, or where the sinking of the ground 

 was slower than in other portions of the country, must be of some* 

 what younger origin, a fact which may in a great measure account fop 

 some want of uniformity in their fossil contents. I wish also to point 

 out another difficulty, the solution of which is of considerable im- 

 portance for the classification of the beds in question. In the green- 

 sands of the Kakahu and Waihao a number of fossils have been 

 collected by me, which Captain Hutton places with the Pareora forma- 

 tion, as for instance, Turitella ambulacrum and Pleurotoma Buchanani. 

 These greensands are overlaid by calcareous greensands, with all the 

 characteristic fossils of the Oamaru formation, on the edges of which 

 the Pareora formation reposes unconformably, consequently a careful 

 study of the more extended collections from these beds is needed to 

 settle this point to my satisfaction. Concerning the age, I have 

 already pointed out that it is exceedingly difficult to assign to these 

 beds their exact position, when using for them any European nomen- 

 clature. However, as Dr. Zittel and Dr. Stache have both come to 

 the conclusion, after studying carefully the fossils collected in this 

 formation by Professor von Hochstetter, that they ought to be classed 

 with the upper Eocene, I do not see any reason to depart from this 

 opinion ; although Captain Hutton, in his Eeport on the G-eology of 

 Otago, is inclined to include them with the lower Miocene. The 

 thickness of the whole series of beds belonging to this formation 

 is very considerable, and might in the average be 1500 to 2000 feet. 

 In conclusion, I wish to say that 1 have adopted Captain Hutton's 

 designation of Oamaru formation for this assemblage of beds, as the 

 first fossils collected and described were derived from that locality. 



