The Cretaceous Fauna of Pondoland. 345 



the two regions occur in the Ariyalur Beds or in their equivalents 

 the Valudayur and Trigonoarca Beds, and not one (with the possihle 

 exception of Hamriceras Gardeni) is found in the TrichinopoH Beds 

 below. The abundance of Hamites {Anisoceras) and the presence of 

 Tetragonites aff. Gala in Pondoland form a further link with the 

 Valudayur Beds. 



If, however, we compare only the LamellilDranchs and Gasteropods 

 and take into account both identical and allied forms, then the 

 relationship of the Pondoland deposit seems to be as close to the 

 Trichinopoli Beds as to the beds of Ariyalur age. But it is difficult 

 to know what value to give in correlation to the evidence furnished 

 by allied forms, and likewise to determine whether the resemblance 

 in the gasteropod and lamellibranch faunas is not due to similarity of 

 conditions rather than to identity in age. In any case, for the 

 correlation of deposits so widely separated as those of South Africa 

 and Southern India, the evidence of the Cephalopods will be 

 admitted to be of far greater importance than that of other groups of 

 fossils. 



Of the Lamellibranchs and Gasteropods found in Pondoland and 

 represented in Southern India by either identical or allied species 

 the following occur in, but not above, the Trichinopoli Group : 

 Trigonoarca cajjensis (Griesb.), Astarte {Eriphyla) lenticular is 

 (Goldf.), Cardium dcnticulatum, Baily, Protocardia Hillana (Sow.), 

 Scala ornata (Baily), and Cnjptorhytis rigida (Baily). On the other 

 hand, forms allied to the following species do not occur beloio the 

 Ariyahir Beds : Nemodoii natalensis (Baily), Inoceramus expansus 

 Baily, Semifusus {Mayeria) sp., and perhaps Meretrix umzamhiensis , 

 sp. nov. 



The following species or forms allied to them are found in both the 

 Trichinopoli and the Ariyalur Groups : Pecten (Neithea) quinqupxos- 

 tatus, Sow., Margarita radiaUda (Forb.), Pseudomelania [Oonia) sp., 

 and Turritella Bonei, Baily. 



Kossmat"- has expressed the opinion that the upper part 

 of the Trichinopoli Group, as well as the Ariyalur Group, is 

 represented in the Pondoland deposit. But the Ammonites seem 

 to give no evidence for the existence of the former horizon, and I 

 believe that the whole of the Pondoland deposit is of the age of the 

 Ariyalur Group. 



M. A. de Grossouvre t doubts the correctness of the view of the 

 close affinity between the Pondoland and South Indian faunas which 



* Eec. Geol. Surv. India, vol. xxx. (1897), p. 71. 

 t Rechereh, sur la Craie Super. (1901), pp. 92G, 927. 



