[Read before the Otago Institute, 6th December, 1927; received by Editor 22nd December, 1927; issued separately, May 17th, 1928.]

The following is a description of a collection of fossil otoliths, received from Dr. H. J. Finlay, of the University of Otago, to whom I am also indebted for a list of the formations in their proper sequence, and the estimated ages of the beds from which they were obtained. These are as follows:—

Ototaran.

• Oligocene.

• Waikaia.

• Wharekuri.

• Clifden (bands 4 and 6). (? Probably basal Hutchinsonian.)

Oligocene or lower Miocene

Hutchinsonian.

• Clifden (band 7).

• Otiake.

Lower Awamoan.

• Miocene.

• Clifden (band 8)

• Target Gully.

• Ardgowan.

Upper Awamoan.

• Miocene.

• Awamoa.

• Pukeuri.

• Rifle Butts.

There are 5 new forms of otoliths, of which 4 belong to the family Congridae, and one is referred to the Cottidae; there is a good example of Elops miocaenicus Frost, and eleven other species from New Zealand and two from Victoria, corresponding with forms which have been described from the tertiaries of Europe.

As has been previously pointed out, the value of fish-remains from a stratigraphical point is necessarily slight, and this is especially so in the case of otoliths, owing to the persistence of the separate forms throughout the different epochs. It is, however, of interest to note that of the eleven species corresponding with European tertiary forms, only I has been described from the Pliocene, 7 from the Miocene, 4 from Oligocene formations, and I only from the Eocene.

The accompanying chart shows the formations in the ascending scale, the occurrence of species now described is indicated by a cross, and if figured in a previous paper by a double cross.