The Fauna of the Baton River Beds (Devonian), New Zealand

Abstract

Research into the geology of New Zealand has shown the existence of rocks containing faunas of Silurian or Devonian age in not widely separated localities in the north of South Island. These faunas were named, after the localities, the Reefton and the Baton river faunas. The Reefton fauna has been studied in detail by Dr. R. S. Allan (1935), who proved conclusively that it was of Lower Devonian age with great similarity to the Upper Siegenian and Lower Emsian (= Lower Coblenzian) faunas of western Europe. The Baton river fauna is the subject of the present study. The collection upon which the work is based consists of three parts. First, the collections of the New Zealand Geological Survey under J. Hector from locality 128 (Baton river); second, the collections of a more recent survey; and third, a series of specimens from Auckland University College. The collections were brought to England by Dr. R. S. Allan, together with that from Reefton. He was unable to make a detailed study of the Baton river fossils, which he left with Professor O. T. Jones, at that time at the University of Manchester. With the consent of the Director of the New Zealand Geological Survey, Professor Jones asked me to take up the study of the fauna. The earliest detailed account of the stratigraphy of the Baton river and Wangapeka districts is by Mackay (1879, pp. 121–31). He mentions (pp. 125–6) that a large collection of fossils was made from the Baton river series