gravel, above which comes 15 ft. of pebbly sand and 4 ft. or 5 ft. of loamy subsoil and soil. The seepage from these beds supplies a water-trough. On a branch road up a small valley south of the railway-station Waitotaran claystone is seen to be overlain by 30 ft. or 40 ft. of sand, mostly dark-coloured, the lower layers of which contain many pebbles of greywacke and numerous fragments of claystone. Another water-trough indicates a permanent water-seepage from the base of these beds. Thomson (7, p. 416) explains the Hawera beds as having been deposited upon a wave-eroded surface of the Wanganuian beds during an advance of the sea. The writer's observations, though entirely supporting most of Thomson's statements, lead rather to the conclusion that the Hawera beds were formed wholly or mainly at a somewhat later stage—namely, during the subsequent retreat of the sea, caused by land-elevation. As has been shown by Thomson, the Hawera series is unconformable to the Wanganuian formation. Since the Upper Wanganuian or Castle-cliffian is of Upper Pliocene age, the Hawera series falls into the Pleistocene. No shells were seen in it at Patea, but at Hawera Thomson collected a large number of Recent species from a shell-bed at the base of the series. The Hawera beds, as pointed out by Thomson, give rise to a rich soil of great importance to the agriculturist. Post-Hawera Deposits. In the small valley south of the Patea town bridge there is a low hill formed of fine gravel and sand, similar in appearance to the gravel and sand of the Hawera series. Since this hill is far below the general level of the Hawera series, one must suppose that the material of which it is composed represents a rewash of the Hawera series. The ferriferous sand-dunes capping the cliffs have already been mentioned several times. The material of which they are formed has probably been partly derived from the Hawera beds (as suggested by Thomson), and Section West of Mouth of Patea River. partly from an ancient belt of dunes formed on the old coast-line immediately after the last elevation of the land had ceased. The prevailing wind is probably from the south-west,* In summer there is a frequent sea breeze. and hence as the sea attacked the land, and cliffing advanced, the bulk of the ancient dune-sand was blown inland. Wind-action is strong at the cliff-edge, and keeps it clear of loose sand. Although some sand falls or is blown over the cliff, this loss is more than counterbalanced by sand derived from the Hawera series. R. Pharazyn, in 1870 (1, pp. 158–60), explained the present dune-sands on top of the cliffs along the shore of the Wanganui Bight as the remnant of a wide belt formed before cliffing began, but the idea that the sand was blown inland as the cliffs advanced was not clearly expressed in his paper.