NOTES AND QUERIES. 



187 



Nearly all the primary rauges are covered with dense virgin forests, which 

 render them extremely difficult of access. It must be left to the labour and 

 enterprise of future years to discover and develope the mineral riches, the ex- 

 istence of which appears to be probable, not only from the geological charac- 

 teristics of the country, but also from some few specimens of lead and copper- 

 ores that have from time to time been picked up by the natives. 



It is remarkable that, while one of tlie oldest members of the Primary for- 

 mation is found so extensively in New Zealand, the later strata, as the Devo- 

 nian, Carboniferous and Permian, appear to be altogether wanting ; while, on 

 the other hand, in the neighbouring continent of Australia these members of 

 the Primary period, together with plutonic and metamorphic rocks, constitute, 

 as far as we know, almost the principal part of the continent. 



A very wide interval occurs between the primary rocks of the Northern 

 Island and the next sedimentary strata met with. Not only the upper 

 members of the primary series are absent, but also nearly the whole of the 

 secondary formations. The only instance of secondary strata met with consists 

 of very regular and highly-inclmed beds of marl alternating with micaceous 

 sandstone, extending to a thickness of more than one thousand feet — first 

 seen on the south head of the Waikato, and afterwards met with on the 

 western shore of Kawliia harbour. 



These rocks possess great interest from the fact that they contain remark- 

 able specimens of marine fossils, which belong exclusively to the secondary 

 period, especially cephaiopods of the genera Ammonites and Belemnites, several 

 species of the Belemnites belonging to the family of the Canaticulati. These 

 are the first specimens of those genera which have been discovered in the 

 regions of Australasia. Both fossils have been known for centuries by our 

 ancestors in the Old World — the ammonite as the horn of Jupiter Ammon, 

 and the belemnite as the bolts of the God of Thunder; the latter, though 

 now first seen in the antipodes by Europeans, have long been known to the 

 natives of Kawhia by a much less dignified name. 



Secondary rocks may probably be found in some other parts of the west 

 coast, and occur, according to the Rev. A. G. Purchas, in the harbour of Ho- 

 kianga, but everywhere are of limited superficial extent. 



The Doctor next speaks of the Tertiary strata which, under very various 

 characters, occupy a large portion of the Northern Island. The various 

 tertiary strata are found for the most part in a horizontal position — a remark- 

 able fact, from which we may conclude that even the numerous volcanic 

 eruptions which took place during and after the period of their deposition had 

 not power enough to dislocate the whole system, but merely to produce local 

 disturbances. 



The Tertiary period must here be divided into two distinct eras, which may 

 perhaps correspond to the European Eocene and Miocene. There is an older 

 formation which is found principally on the west coast, and in the interior on 

 both sides of the primary ranges ; and a newer one which may be called the 

 Auckland Tertiary Pormation. 



_ It wiU probably be interesting to give some more minute description of the 

 different strata of the older of these formations, as to it belongs the " Brown- 

 Coal" seams, to the discovery of which Dr. Hochstetter is indebted for the 

 opportunity of investigating the geology of Auckland, and on the proper 

 working of which he believes much of the future welfare of that province 

 depends. 



The Brown-Coal formation is of very considerable extent both in the 

 northern and middle islands of New Zealand, and is everywhere of similar 

 character. 



The Drury coal, in the Drury and Hunua districts, belongs to a very good 



