I 
THE GEOLOGY OE AHCKLANI). 17 
terns, 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, so far as we know, almost the principal part 
of the continent. 
IT,— SECONDARY FORMATION. 
A very wide interval occurs between the primary rocks of the 
Northern. Island and the next sedimentary strata that I met 
with. Not only the upper members of the primary series are 
a bsent, but also nearly the whole of the Secondary formations. 
The only instance of secondary strata that I have met with con¬ 
sists of very regular and highly-inclined beds of marl alternating 
with micaceous sandstone, extending to a thickness of more 
than 1000 feet—which I first saw on the South head of the 
Waikato, and afterwards met with on the western shore of 
Kawhia harbour. 
These rocks possess great interest from the fact that they 
contain remarkable specimens of marine fossils, which belong 
exclusively to the secondary period, especially Ceplialopods of 
the genera Ammonite and Belemnite , several species of Belem - 
nite> all belonging to the family of the Canaticulati . These are 
the first specimen 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—the old warrior- 
chief, Nuitone te BaJcaru , having told me that the stones I 
prized so much and collected so greedily, are nothing more than 
‘ rolce-kanaej which means the excrement of the fish commonly 
known among the settlers by the name of ‘ mullet/ In reality, 
the Belemnite belongs to a creature, long since extinct, which 
was allied to the now living cuttle-fish. 
Secondary rocks may probably be found in some other parts 
of the West Coast, and occur, as I have been kindly informed by 
the Bev. A. G. Purchas, in the Plarbour of Hokianga—but 
everywhere of limited superficial extent* 
