TERTIARY COALS OF NEW ZEALAND. 171 



known up to that date, — especially those of the North Island, and northern por- 

 tions of the South Island. Desirous of comparing the New Zealand Tertiary 

 coals with local coals of greater age and superior quality, as well as with coals of 

 all ages from every part of the world, I availed myself of the opportunities pre- 

 sented by the Exhibition in question ; the Australian Museum, Sydney ; the 

 Museum of Economic Geology and British Museum, London ; the Museums of 

 Economic Botany at Kew and Edinburgh ; the Museum of Science and Art, Edin- 

 burgh, and other minor museums, British or colonial. 



I have selected the Brown Coals of Otago, as representative of the Tertiary 

 coals of New Zealand, for three reasons, — viz., that I am more familiar with 

 them ; that they are the best known and most extensively worked in the colony ; 

 and that their stratigraphical relations and chemical constitution appear essen- 

 tially those of all other New Zealand tertiary coals. 



The general results of my inquiries as to the geology and chemistry of the 

 Tertiary coals of New Zealand I have given in the " Abstract" [published in the 

 Society's " Proceedings,"] of the paper which I had the honour of presenting to the 

 Royal Society on 20th February last. The only section of the said paper which 

 it seems desirable here to print in detail, is the tabular exhibition of the physical 

 characters and chemical constitution of the brown coals of Otago; and as stan- 

 dards of comparison of certain other or older coals of other provinces of New Zea- 

 land or of Australia. 



Table I. refers exclusively to specimens collected by the Geological Survey 

 of Otago, or submitted to analysis by the chemist attached to that survey* The 

 majority of the Otago specimens are from the same collieries or localities from 

 which my own collections were made. But inasmuch as the collections of the 

 Geological Survey were made subsequently to mine, and at a period when the 

 various works were in full operation, the survey specimens are likely to be of a 

 quality superior to mine, which were necessarily, to a great extent, surface speci- 

 mens. Moreover, the mode and scope of the analyses differ somewhat in the two 

 tables ; wherefore, and on other accounts, Table I. is to be regarded as the natural 

 complement of Table II. f 



Table II. refers exclusively to specimens collected by myself in Otago in the 

 course of my various excursions in 1861. The chemical analyses were made, as 

 before stated, by Professor Murray Thomson. 



* It is constructed chiefly from materials contained in a Report by the Government geologist of 

 Otago, Dr Hector — a Fellow of this Society — of date 13th April 186i. 



•j- The natural order or sequence of these Tables has been reversed to suit the requirements of 

 the printer. 



VOL. XXIV. PART I. 3 A 



