H.—34.

The writing of Bulletin 41, " The Geology of Te Kuiti Subdivision," was completed and the illustrations prepared for the printer. With Dr. Finlay, a paper on the Stage Divisions of the Tertiary of New Zealand was written for the Pacific Science Congress, held in San Francisco last August. Later, this paper was considerably elaborated and expanded to include the Cretaceous, and is to be published in the June issue of the " Transactions of the Eoyal Society of New Zealand." The molluscan collections obtained by Dr. Lillie in the current survey of Dannevirke Subdivision have been given a preliminary examination. At the request of Dr. Teiichi Kobayashi, some of the syntypes of the trilobite Ogygites hectori Reed were sent to him at the Imperial University of Tokyo. These fossils were collected from rocks on the Taylor-Wangapeka watershed, considered by their collector, Mr. E. 0. Macpherson, to belong to the Mount Arthur Series. Dr. Kobayashi reports that they belong to the Asiatic genus Taihungshania and so are "Arenigian (Lower Ordovician) instead of Upper Ordovician as formerly suggested." MICROPALiEONTOLOGICAL WORK. By H. J. Finlay. Samples sent in by field officers have come mostly from Dr. Lillie, in the Dannevirke area, and have ranged from Raukumara Cretaceous to Nukumaruan Pliocene. As usual, the Pliocene faunas have been rich, but much more difficult to distinguish than older ones. The most puzzling faunas have been from beds mapped as Lower Ihungia, but which evidently represent a very distinct North Island facies of the South Island Upper Ototaran and Waitakian. Numerous samples from B. W. Collins have also been determined, for his account of the Motunau area. Mr. M. Ongley has lately re-collected from several type sections, and the numerous faunas determined have clarified many points. The type Weber is now known to be definitely Whaingaroan (with Rotaliatina, V. maynei, &c.j, the only other fauna at Weber being Whangai. The type Wanstead is uniform throughout the section and contains no lower Bortonian forms. The Wheao Stream and Waikohu River sections gave definite knowledge of the Wheao as equivalent to lower Ihungia, the faunas above and below the igneous conglomerate being indistinguishable. The Mangatu and Waikura streams sections were unsatisfactory. Numerous samples have been examined and faunal lists made up in connection with the Te Kuiti Bulletin, now in press. Samples from the major oil companies have taken up much time. The Shell Company of New Zealand has forwarded many odd samples of well-preserved rich faunas from Hawke's Bay for making up reference slides, and sections have been examined in conjunction with Dr. Biining, notably one through lowest Opoiti into Mapiri. Many rich faunas from the Westland " Blue Bottom " have cleared up the. confusion surrounding this thick and homogeneous deposit; most of it is now known to be Awamoan with a rather thin layer of Ilutchinsonian below, and a much larger amount of Opoitian directly above (and some poorly fossiliferous AVaitotaran), the intermediate Taranakian being missing, except at Kapitea Creek. Examination of Dr. Bossard's Taranaki collections for the Vacuum Oil Co. is continuing, and a recent visit was paid to Gisborne to discuss micro-faunas with J. M. Dorreen (Vacuum Co.), and to examine the whole of their mounted collections. The Superior Oil Co. have recently asked for collaboration in forarn work, and intensive study of the Pliocene faunas with Mr. Wheatley has already begun. Valuable foreign material has been sent in during the year, and is mostly mounted up. Mrs. F. B. Plummer has sent much fine type material from the Austin, Taylor, Navarro, and Midway formations ; P. W. .Tarvis, a good suite from various well-known Trinidad localities ; H. G. Schenck, two Californian Miocene lots ; W. F. Nuttall, some type material from the Mexican Mendez and Aragon ; and W. J. Parr and F. Chapman, some slides of Australian species. Paratypes of species described in " Key Species No. 1 " have been sent to J. A. Cushman and W. J. Parr, a slide of 100 key species to the Otago University, and other exchange material prepared. PETROLOGICAL AND MINERALOGICAL WORK. By C. 0. Hutton. Considerable progress has been maintained in the development of a rock and mineral museum, and nearly six thousand specimens are now readily available. A number of these specimens have been sectioned and catalogued, but classification cannot be completed until a great many thin sections have been made. Special collections of New Zealand ores and economic minerals are being assembled and made available in separate cabinets. In this collection are many very fine specimens from old prospecting and mining localities that have, by this time, been worked out or fallen into disuse. Further, most of the rock specimens described by Professor Sollas and A. McKay in " The Rocks of Cape Colville Peninsula, New Zealand," are now available. Development of the foreign collections of rocks and minerals has been continued, and the value of these collections has been greatly increased by recent gifts. In this connection thanks are due to Mr. K. C. Church, of the Broken Hill Proprietary Co., Ltd., for a case of fine ferrous minerals from the iron-mines of Iron Knob and Iron Monarch, South Australia. Dr. F. J. Turner, University of Otago, very generously forwarded rocks that were collected recently by him in America ; noteworthy in this collection are some specimens from the famous Crestmore locality, in Riverside County, California. Another valuable addition is a specimen of crocidolite, from the Hammersley Range, Western Australia. Material that was collected at Patea, in South Taranaki, last year has been investigated and the results published.

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