Lite Periods in New Zealand. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2663, 29 March 1905, Page 18

Lite Periods in New Zealand. TO THE EDITOR.

Sic, — We have three great life periods in New Zealand. The first is from the earliest times up to the great depression, v.-hon these islands sank 3000 ft beneath the surface of the Pacific, and separated them from every other continent on the globe. This depression did not interfere with moliuscan life, inasmuch as it survived all the changes of that period, whatever they may have been. Moliuscan life is abundant through the geological formations of that remote epoch of time, as the cockle, sea. urchin, and other shells found in the green sands and caleavous freestone show. Remains of gigantic saurians have been found in the green sands, or sareora. We cannot Fay what life may have perished duringthat depression or subsidence of the land : but what we know is that the separation of these islands cut them off from the invasion of those races that entered other parts of the Australian continent. Tho subsidence prevented the entrance of marsupial, monkey, and serpent life, such as exists in Australia and America. Various species of birds survived that submergence and occupied the fragments of land that remained.

The next life period was closed by the glacial advent. It does not appear that that long intervening era added any creature to these already in existence in this part of the world. Bird life, however, had become largely developed during the pre-glacial age. "Various kinds of fowl, winged and wingless, subsisted in the country The gigantio wingless moa predominated — bitterns, pukakis, and ducks inhabited the swamps and inland lakes. Wekas. rois, kakas, kiwis, and pigeons found homes in the bush, living on native fruits and insects. Seals and water fowl frequented the shores.

The larger bird life ended with the, glacial cold, which leads us to our third life period. The smaller species that outlived the frosty reign became possessors of the land till the advent of the Moriori, or Maori, possibly a thousand years ago ; but the moa, harpagarnis cnemiornis. with many others disappeared, leaving only their remains in debris of the glacial visitation, where we now find them.

We see from this that there has been a. very limited development of animal life over the immense periods of time here biiefly surveyed. No new creatures appear on the scene to supply the places of those that had passed away. Those, again, that did not perish continued unchanged. Cockles, sea urchins, and many other classes of mulluscs have undergone no chance through the whole extent of life on this globe, from the Silurian and Devonian formations to the present day.

The lizard is the only quadruped known to these islands till the visit of Europeans. It is the same creature we trod on in the» Scottish moors, which dropped its tail to our boyish astonishment ; and the bivalves are identical with those gathered on tho shores of Shetland and Firth of Clyde. We find things similar in the vegetable kingdom as in the animal. The bramble berry, the ferns, and rushes are identical with, those in the Northern Hemisphere. The kauri and the birch, partially mineralised, found in the lignites and moraines of the south of New Zealand are identical with growing specimens. It seems to me that the principle or fact of evolution has been, very sparingly exercised in this part of the Southern Hemisphere. — I am. etc., 20th March, 1905. J. Christie.

A New Plymouth resident is proposingthat a large amusement hall, containing a. concert room, ball room, skating rink, tennis court, gymnasium, band pavilion, and acoommodaTion for bazaars, horticultural shows, etc., should be erected at the seaside at New Plymouth, after the manner of the halls at Margate, Bournemouth, Scarborough, and other places in England. A company with a capital of £4000 is suggested to carry out the scheme.