te THE GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS OF NEW ZEALAND a 
~The Wairoa series has been generally admitted to be trias cilia 
it was first described by Dr. von Hochstetter as characterized by 
Monotis salinaria, Halobia lomelli, &c. Eleven species have now 
n de termined, and Brachiopoda are represented, by t the earliest 
but having the dental plates i ate with the rostral cep 
(Psioidea), but these are very rare.* 
In some districts the Wairoa series is divided into two horiamg 
yielding marine fossils, by sandstones containing fossil plants 
from which forms of Glossopteri is (?), Zamites, and Rhacophyllum 5 
have been obtained. Se 
The Oreti series, which has been mentioned in the reports as 
the lower Wairoa series, has since been shown to be absent in 
the Wairoa district, so that it is advisable to give ita distinc 
name. It includes a great formation of green and ry tufaceous 
sandstones and breccias, having at its base a remarkable ¢ con 
glomerate of enormous masses of crystalline rocks, m@ 28" — 
cementing matrix, resembling the character en for the * 
base of the Gondwinda series in India. Sor f the blocks, 
which are both angular and rounded, are 5 teat in ae ee 
This 8 conglomerate has a thickness varying from 50 feet to 400 “ 
feet, and is never absent from its proper sectional Lage in eo n 
at of the Hokanui District. The strata ‘ 
d ed dart Ae 
rte 
Pee Pe oon Es ae 
-beds,” on account of their tufaceous and esa 
The fossils are chiefly permian and triassic forms, | 
us also occurs, which resembles the J urassi¢ species 
Brachiopoda are scarce, ee one form of true Athyris, of W 
__ Specimens are very abundan t; with two gets of Psiordet, ae 
_ four species of Rhynchonella with smooth exte rnal surfaces, 
only occur in collections from these beds in the Kaihiku Range 
The oe equivalents of this formation in Australia are to : 
53 be found in i: Spegey tta Shales and Hawkesbury * 
; P 
nation of this point ; but the com parison of the 
3 oe and the stratigraphical position of the formations i 
_ Support this view of their er Biss: 
i.* Tania havea remarkable and characterist develo ser 
will of New anges ee descriptive the @ 
: = given in a = veline of the Reports 
