32 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Jan. 
above the marine Mesozoic rocks, and have shared in the movements which 
occurred in the early part of the Cretaceous period. This confirms the 
belief that the folded marine beds at the top of the Mesozoic sequence at • 
Kawhia may also belong to the lowest Cretaceous period. By this means 
the date of the folding of the Mesozoic rocks is determinable with very close 
precision, for Mr. Woods has recently shown that the earliest of the marine 
beds which were formed subsequently to the period of folding may be 
placed in the upper part of the Lower Cretaceous period. These beds 
Mr. Woods correlates with the upper part of the Bolling Downs formation 
of Australia, and recent research has shown that there occurs north of Bris¬ 
bane a series of plant-beds, formerly believed to be Jurassic, which overlie 
some part at least of the so-called Lower Cretaceous Bolling Downs marine 
formation. These plant-beds are known as the Burrum series by Queens¬ 
land geologists, and the underlying marine beds formerly termed the Bolling 
Downs formation are now termed the Maryborough series. Dr. Walkom’s 
description of the plant-remains in these marine rocks has just been pub¬ 
lished. Pagiophyllum and Taeniopteris are the predominant forms, and 
are associated with Araucarites Ginkgo, ? Taxites , Equisetites, Sphenopteris, 
and two cycads. In a letter recently received by the present writer, 
Dr. Walkom says, “ I have determined about thirty-six species in the 
(overlying) Burrum (beds). An interesting result of the examination of 
this flora is that it is a typical Wealden or Neocomian-Barremian flora, 
and is therefore lowest Cretaceous. The Bolling Downs [formation] is below 
this, and the question arises whether the Bolling Downs may not be 
upper Jurassic. This can only be proved by a complete examination 
of the fauna of the marine beds.” (This last is fairly extensive. “The 
predominant forms are pelecypods and cephalopods, which are asso¬ 
ciated with crinoids, asteroids, echinoids, brachiopods, gasteropods, and 
crustaceans.”) Besides these two presumably Lower Cretaceous floras, 
both free from angiosperms, a third has recently been recognized on 
the Styx Biver, in Queensland, and this Dr. Walkom is inclined to 
consider slightly newer than the Burrum flora. Very interesting results 
may be expected from his investigations of this flora, which are shortly 
to be published. The time relationship between these three Australian 
Lower Cretaceous floras and that of Waikato Heads is thus a fairly close 
one, and the exact correlation will be a most interesting problem. Bor 
the present we should note Dr. Walkom’s remark, “ Our interpretation 
of the Mesozoic strata in Queensland is gradually undergoing considerable 
modification, and it is not safe to base any general conclusions on the 
present horizons to which they have been referred.” In the Lower Cre¬ 
taceous beds of the Waikato Heads two angiosperms have been recorded 
and described by Dr. Laurent, of Marseilles. The most distinctive of these 
he has termed Artocarpidium Arberi, a form which is perhaps most closely 
related to the figs among living plants. This is associated with Taeniopteris 
arctica (a Cretaceous form), Cladophlebis australis, and Microphyllus pectinata, 
which are also known in the Jurassic beds of New Zealand, and must be 
classed as among the earliest known occurrences of angiospermous leaves. 
We are thus afforded an instance of a very general phenomenon—viz., 
the commencement of the floral revolution before the late Mesozoic orogenic 
event ; and we may also see how closely associated in time may have 
been the folding of the Mesozoic rocks in New Zealand, and the flooding 
of the sea across Australia, with the deposition of the still-unfolded 
Cretaceous marine rocks which cover a large portion of that continental 
block, of which New Zealand forms the geosynclinal marginal region. 
