244 
Memoranda of an Excursion 
posit of indurated clay sand and mud of a very white 
colour, which here obstructs the progress of the river 
(and through a narrow pass in which the water rushes),, 
is filled with marine shells in a fossil state; although at 
a great distance from the sea, and at a very great height 
above its present level- This bed of white rock is large,, 
being not less than 200 feet in width; and, when the 
river is swollen by the winter’s rains, surrounded as it 
is by high and densely wooded hills, the fall must pre¬ 
sent a very imposing appearance. I gained several 
specimens of shells, Uni- Bi- and Multi valve, by dig¬ 
ging them out of the rock with my hatchet. Among 
them w T ere specimens of the genera, Terelratula , # Vo- 
luta, Pecten 7 Lepas, and others at present unknown to 
me. The waters fell from rock to rock three several 
times, ere they were swallowed up in the dark eddying 
gulph below. The deep gloom of the river in the gorge 
beneath—the different hues of the dense masses of fo¬ 
liage on either side—the sun-beams peering downwards 
through the tops of the trees—the enormous bed of 
rock above, as white as snow—the natives, who accom¬ 
panied me, perched here and there upon the same—and 
the little village in the back-ground, combined together 
* Terebratula Tayloriana (Fossil.); Shell ovate, ventricose, very 
solid, smooth, concentrically and absoletely striated, lamellar; margii> 
apparently entire; summit of larger valve much produced, arcuated, sub- 
deflexed, thick, very truncate ; perforation large; horn, or light mouse- 
coloured; length, 2J inches; breadth, 1J inches. 
Hab. In a mass of indurated deposit of sand and mud, forming the cata¬ 
ract on the river Wangaroa, at the base of the mountain \Vakapunakc r 
near Hawke’s Bay, E. coast, N. Island of New Zealand. W.C. MSS, ined r 
Obs. This fine species of former days has been named after the Rev. 
R. Taylor, of Waimate, New Zealand; whose assiduity in both geological 
and conchological research is too well known to require comment. 
