80 
small, as the shales and sandstones containing them were hut little 
opened. 1 
Owing to the dense woods covering the country, the extent 
of the Drury coal field could not be fully determined. There is, 
however, no doubt, that the extent of the coal field is such as to 
justify continued and decisive mining enterprises. Already during 
my stay in Auckland, a company was formed under the name of 
“Waihoihoi Coal Company”, which undertook to open the mines, 
and by constructing a tramway from the diggings to Slippery 
Creek to connect the coal field with Manukau Harbour. 2 
My observations furthermore led me to believe, that these 
brown coals have been deposited on the old shores of a tertiary 
basin, in the middle of which purely marine strata witli sea 
shells, only here and there containing sporadic carbonified pieces of 
driftwood, are found, as in the clifts near Auckland, on the penin- 
sula Wangaparoa North of Auckland, and in other places. This 
opinion I found corroborated, when on my travels into the interior 
of North Island, on the N. W. slope of the Taupiri and Hakari- 
mata ranges, where I met with the same brown coal formations 
1 Not a single one of the fossil plants was to be compared with European 
tertiary plants, nor has the New Zealand Flora of to-day any distinctly cognoscible 
representatives in them. The following species were determined by Prof. Unger of 
Vienna: Fagan Ninnisiana Ung . (named after Capt. Ninnis of Onehunga so highly 
meritorious for the opening of the coal-mines of Drury). Among the living species 
is the nearest Fagus procera Poppig from Southern Chili. LoranlliopftyUim Gr Indiana 
IJng., resembling Loranlhm Forsterianus Scfmlt., but principally resembling the 
Griseliana luckla Forst. belonging to the family of the Carnese and diffused through- 
out New Zealand. Lor ml hop hy llum dubium Ung. The leaf but imperfectly preserved 
shows some identity with Loranlhm longifollus Deso * MyrlifoUum lingua Ung. has 
no analogon either among the fossil leaves or the plants of to-day. Of the Myrtaceee, 
among which it might be classed if anywhere, only Angophora cord! folia Car. of 
Australia has some resemblance. 
Phyllites Purcftasi Ung. \ fossil leaves in a very imperfect state of preser- 
„ Ficoides Ung. [ servation, the genus of which cannot be deter- 
mined, and which therefore can only be very 
generally designated. 
' l This tramway, a horse-road of 3y 4 miles in length, was opened in May 
1862, and the company indulges in the hope of being now able to so fix the price 
of the Drury coal, that the ton will cost at the mine 15s., in Onehunga 25s., and 
in Auckland 30 to 32s. 
Novae Zealandite Ung , 
Lanrinium Ung. 
