178 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



The reason for this opinion was, that it was supposed that the two sets 

 of rocks, in the north and in the south, could be traced continuously, 

 and that one could be proved to pass into the other. But in 1887 the 

 author found that the two tracts were not continuous, but were sepa- 

 rated along the line of the Buller River by a band of Maitai slates and 

 granite,* thus destroying the only evidence for their correlation. In 

 the present paper the author shows that the schists of Northern Otago 

 are metarnorphic rock, but that the metamorphism has been caused 

 neither by crushing nor by contact with masses of igneous rocks, but is 

 due to their having been deposited in the Archaean Era, when the earth 

 was much hotter than now. They are therefore older than the 

 Silurians and Ordovicians of Nelson. 



(2) Western Otago. 



The foliated rocks of the West Coast Sounds, from Milford to 

 Dusky, have been generally regarded as consisting principally of typical 

 gneisses of Archaean age, and as passing below the mica-schists of 

 Northern Otago. The author however finds, from an examination of 

 rocks collected during the excursion of the Australasian Association to 

 the Sounds, that these rocks are all Schistose Diorites of eruptive origin 

 associated with other Diorites and Gabbros. In the paper the rocks are 

 considered as Hornblende Diorites, but it is probable that they were 

 originally Augite Diorites. The following rocks are described : — Mica 

 Diorite, Hornblende Diorite, Enstatite Diorite, and Enstatite Gabbro. 



The absence of contortion and the almost universal westerly dip of 

 the foliation planes are strong ^evidence that these rocks are not 

 Archaean. On their flanks there is found in places a series of sedi- 

 mentary rocks altered by contact, which Sir James Hector considers to 

 be probably Devonian. If this be so the eruptive Diorites must be 

 younger than Devonian and may be connected with the Greenstone-tuffs 

 of the Route Burn and Greenstone River west of Lake Wakatipu. 



(2) " On a Specimen of Regalecus from O'Kain's Bay," by H. O. 

 Forbes, A.L.S., F.G.S., &c, (see p. 154.) 



AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 



Auckland, June 8th, 1891. — Professor F. D. Brown, President, in 

 the chair. 



New Members. — Messrs. T. Allen, Auckland; E. S. Brookes, jun., 

 Wharehine ; Rev. H. S. Davies, Lake Takapuna ; W. G. Rathbone, 

 Auckland ; and Dr. T. O. Williams, Thames. 



The Secretary announced an extensive list of donations to the 

 Museum and Library. 



The President delivered the annual address. 



After dealing with the subject of reading of scientific papers at 

 their meetings, which he considered to be a survival from those times 

 when literary work was chiefly conveyed orally, he then dealt with the 

 great value of the Museum to the city, laying particular stress on the 

 importance of extending the popular branch of the collections, and of 



* " On the Geology of the Country about Lyttelton."— Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 22, p. 387 



