352 Alhany Museum Records, 



from Silurian. It is remarkable that in Europe, America, Austra- 

 lia and South Africa this doubtful fossil occurs in beds 

 approximately the same age, and this by itsnlf is presumptive 

 evidence in favour of its organic origin. 



It was this impression found by me in quartzites near Brand 

 Vley, Worcester, that led me to discover tlie Gangaiuopteris- 

 G/ossojjferis bearing beds north of the town of Worcester, which had 

 previously been mapped as Malmesbury or Bokkeveld beds, and 

 eventually to establish the great Worcester-Swellendam fault, a 

 drop of over 10,000 feet south of the Langebergen ; in spite of its 

 doubtful organic origin, it has ever since then been a most useful 

 zone fossil. 



Cat. Nos. 2329-2334. V^itteberg beds. From first kloof on 

 the right in Howison's Poort. Donor : Mr. C. B. Surmon, 1902. 



Cat. No 2335. Witteberg beds, Bay of Biscay, Port Alfred. 

 Donor : Mrs. H. M. Barber, 1902. 



{?) Arrhaeojtteris. 



Some pinnules of a fern shaped like those in species ot ArcJiae- 

 opteris^ which have borders not very much lacerated, such as 

 A. ( Noecpjn'iUhia) ohtusa, Lesquereux, were found hy me in gi-ey 

 micaceous shales, underlying the Witteberg quartzites in Baviaan's 

 Hoek, Ceres Division, In one specimen the pinnule cari'ied 

 minute circular rings, which I at the time thought were the re- 

 mains of sporangia that had discharged their spores ; the rings 

 were arranged ii-regularly over the surface of the pinnule. The 

 preservation was too poor to show any venation, and Mr. Seward, 

 to whom the specimens were submitted, failed to see anything at 

 all. In a letter quoted by Mr. Prosser, Sir W. Dawson says that 

 the fruit of A. ohtusa was to be looked for in special fertile pinnaa, 

 and would consist of oval capsules. The South African specimens 

 consisted of only single pinnules, and further search may reveal 



^L. Vanuxem, Nat. Hist, of New York, 1842, PI. III., pp. 12S, 177, tig. 

 on !>. 128, also J. Hall, Contiibutions to Palaeontology, I6th Ann. Rept. 

 Univ , New York, 1863 ; supposed to be borings of jiolychaete worms. 



^L. G. de Koninck, Recherches sur les fossiles Palaeozoiques de Nouvelle- 

 Galles du Sud., Brussels, 1876-7. 



