Canterbury and Westland. 367 



If sucli beaches had been formed on the lower slopes • of Banks' 

 Peninsula we should certainly have ample evidence as to their exist- 

 ence ; however, beyond a small oscillation averaging at most 15 to 20 

 feet in vertical height, no rising of the ground has there taken place. 

 Everywhere on the lower slopes, where the volcanic rocks are not 

 exposed, thick beds of loess invariably cover them. And even where 

 shells occur as high as six to eight feet above high water mark, it is 

 very possible that they might have been placed there by the agency 

 of an exceptionally high tide: The same may be said of the Timaru 

 plateau, consisting in its upper portion of beds of loess, which can be 

 followed about ten miles inland. Either volcanic rocks or loess beds 

 form bold cliffs along the seashore, where splendid sections are open to 

 our examination, but nowhere is there any sign of raised beaches or 

 littoral deposits, any marine shells found at the foot of the cliffs 

 having been brought there by the tides. Still more to the south, 

 there is ample evidence that the cliffs of loess now situated several 

 miles inland were at one time washed by the sea. Deposits of boulders 

 and sand travelling northwards with the sea currents, and enclosing 

 sometimes to the west of them lagoons and marshes, gradually shut 

 these cliffs off from the ocean. The most careful examination has 

 never revealed the least sign of any raised beaches amongst them. 



The following shells have been collected in the bed in question 

 occurring near Motanau : — Fusus corticatus, Fusus dilatatus, Fusus 

 plebceus, Buccinum costatum, Struthiolaria nodulosa, Calyptrcea macu- 

 lata, Cryipta contorta, Imp er at or imp erialis, Botella Zealand ica, Polydonta 

 tiarafa, Gibbula nitida, Siphonaria denticulata, Ampullacera avcUana, 

 Dentalium paciflcum, Mulinia notata, Tellina delfoidalis, Mactra rudis, 

 Mesodesma cuneata, Mytilus magellanicus, Modiola albicosta, Fecten 

 laticostatus, Fecten zealandia, Terebratella rubicunda, and BJiyncJwneUa 

 nigricans. 



(B.) The Loess Foemation. 



When speaking of Banks' Peninsula, I have already referred to the 

 remarkable slope deposits, by which the middle and lower slopes of 

 this isolated volcanic system are extensively covered. They consist of 

 an unstratified yellowish loam, friable in small pieces, but very 

 tenacious and consistent in large masses. This loam, to which in the 

 future I wish to apply the term loess, consists mostly of argillaceous 

 matter with small grains of felspar, minute fragments of mica and 



