The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 
40 
[Mar. 
Notes on the Vegetation of the Mid-Clarence Valley, by B. C. Aston. 
Abstract. 
The author stated that he had made five visits to this district since the first in 
April, 1915, when a journey through the remarkable Ure Canon, or lire Gorge, as it is 
called, was made, and the ascent to the summit of Tapuaenuku (9,450 ft.) from the 
Dee River was accomplished. The main features of the work accomplished were the 
botanical examination of the Medway, Ure, Kekerangu, Nidd, Mead, and Dee River 
basins, including the hills surrounding them (the last three being tributaries of the 
Mid-Clarence), and the limestone foothills and eastern slopes of Mount Tapuaenuku. 
The results included the discovery of a remarkable potymorphie new species of 
gentian which exhibited different habits of growth according to the habitat. This 
semi-arid district was well supplied with moist, dark stations in close proximity to 
very dry, strongly isolated stations. The same species might grow on a dark, dripping 
river-cliff, a shingle-bed exposed to a large measure of sunlight, a dry shady hillside, 
or a rock-crevice. A Carmichaelia, which was probably C. Monroi, exhibited such a 
variety of forms under these conditions that a botanist might class them as distinct 
species if he did not know the conditions under which the specimens were growing. 
The rediscovery was made of W nlilenbergia Matthewsii, the finest of the New Zealand 
species of that genus, originally discovered by H. J. Matthews, and found to be common 
in the Ure Valiev as a rock-plant. Flowering specimens of Olearia coriacea were found in 
the Mead Stream, a Haaslia growing at 8,500 ft. elevation, and H elicit ysum Pur diet, which, 
as Dr. Cockayne had pointed out, was probably a hybrid between H. bellidioides 
and H. glomeratum, since H. Purdiei was always found in association with its reputed 
parents. The speaker also described the rock associations met with. A Notosparlium 
was found to be abundant in the Inland Kaikouras, and it was this plant which 
Mr. Petrie was now naming N. glabrescens ; it attained a height of 15 ft. to 30 ft. 
Inheritance in Self-fertilized Plants, by Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf. 
Wellington Island Soils and Florulas, by B. C. Aston. 
GEOLOGY SECTION. 
Presidential Address : The Birth and Development of New Zealand as 
a Geographical Unit, by Professor J. Park. 
Abstract. 
Considered as a geographical unit. New Zealand, though composed of rocks of 
great antiquity, is, geologically speaking, young. Its framework is composed of a pile 
of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks, but it was not till the Cretaceous epoch that these 
rocks were built up into the mountain-chains and other land forms familiarly known 
to us by the geographical name “New Zealand.’'' The Palaeozoic sediments were 
derived from the denudation of a land area that formerly occupied the greater part 
of the Southern Hemisphere. This ancient land certainly existed till the Mesozoic 
era, and eventually became submerged at the close of the Jurassic period. Though no 
trace of this lost continent now remains, the sediments derived from it tell us that it 
possessed an abundant rainfall. Deposition was not continuous ; on the contrary, a 
hiatus took place during the Devonian and Carboniferous epochs, due to the recession 
of the sea from the shores of the ancient continent. A singular fact was the absence 
of plant-life in the Palaeozoic rocks of the New Zealand area. At the close of the 
Jurassic epoch there began two syntaxial crustal movements that folded and ridged 
the older rocks and built up the framework of New Zealand as we now know it. It 
was then that the real history of New Zealand as a geographical unit began. The long 
series of uplifts, submergences, and faults that gave the finishing-touches to the islands 
were briefly described. 
The Cretaceous Rocks of the Kaipara District, by Dr. P. Marshall. 
Abstract. 
Up to the present time very few fossils have been found in rocks of Upper Cretaceous 
age in New Zealand. The author, however, gave a description of a rich series of 
important fossils that he had recently found. These were largely ammonites, and 
showed a great similarity to fossils of similar Cretaceous age in South India and 
Antarctica. This recent discovery enforces the opinion previously held that New 
Zealand was joined to Antarctica in late Cretaceous times, and that this land was not 
distant from an Indian extension. 
