55 
the Belemn. canaliculatus Schloth ., that it is quite difficult to trace 
differences sufficient to justify a particular name for it. 
The oldest fossilifcrous strata, which I found on South Island 
at Richmond, not far from Nelson, contain species of Monotis 
and Ilalobia, which cannot he distinguished from the European 
forms Monotis salinaria Br. and Ilalobia Lommeli Wissm. from the 
Trias of the Alps . 1 
If it were allowed to consider these two facts already as suffi- 
cient proofs, we might at once infer as a natural consequence , that the 
faunas of former periods upon the Northern and Southern Hemisphe- 
res present an analogy and intimate relation, such as is no longer 
found in the living fauna; which inference seems by no means 
adapted to confirm the above opinion pronounced by Prof, Agassiz; 
but is wholly coinciding with the prevalent opinion, that the older 
the formations, the more analogy is exhibited in their fossils also 
in countries at great distance from each other. 
Synoptical view of the geological formations and strata , presented 
upon New Zealand, in chronological succession. 
I. Metamorpliic Strata. (Foliated schists.) 
None as yet proven upon the North Island. 
Developed jon a grand scale on the South Island: 
a) in the Western ranges of the Province of Nelson as Gneiss, Micaslate, 
Quartzite and Phyllite with more or less vertical, partly fan-shaped 
stratification (Mt. Olympus); granite and syenite also appears in zones 
of considerable longitudinal extent. — These foliated schists are more 
or less impregnated with quartz and constitute the original beds of 
gold in the Province of Nelson. 
b) On the West coast of the Province of Canterbury as a narrow belt 
consisting of the most different crystalline schists with more or less 
vertical stratification, and of granite. The gold-fields of the Province 
of Canterbury belong to this series. (Dr. Haast.) 
1 Recently strata with the same fossils have been found in New Caledonia. 
