PaUeozoic Fus.sils. ;581 



Falkland Islands, associated with fossils of a strongly South 

 African aspect. In 1841 and 1(S42, Dr. McCoruiick, surgeon to 

 Sir John Ross' South Polar Expedion, collected " Spirifers, Orthes 

 and Orthoceratites" in the rocks of the Falkland Islands*. This 

 author says (p. 29t)) that at San Salvador Bay the lower land, con- 

 sists of alternating ridges and valleys of clay slate and sandstone 

 abounding in fossil shells, so that it is to be hoped that the meagre 

 collections brought back by Charles Darwin and described by 

 Morris and Sharpe, the only account as yet published on the 

 pala3ontolog5' of these interesting islands, will be supplemented, 

 and allow of a closer correlation of these Falkland Islands rocks 

 with our South African ones. 



OrfJioceras fcx, nov. sp. 



PI. VIII., Fig. 7. 



This is a very badly preserved fosssil which, however, shows 

 characters distinct from the two forms I collected at Gamka Poort, 

 which were described by Mr. F. R. C. Reed under the names of O. 

 yanilcaensis and 0. hokkeveldensis. It was obtained by me from 

 the Keurboom's River Heights in Knysna verj^ shortly after I had 

 collected the other forms, and I thought at the time that it was 

 identical with the larger of the two, O. (/ariikaens/s ; as Mr. J. Rex, 

 who showed me the locality, wished to keep the specimt- n for his 

 local museum, I did not take the fossil away with me, but he has 

 since kindly presented it to the Albany Museum. 



No specific descrii)tion can be given of this foi-m : the rate of 

 tapering is apparently 1 in 1()-17, Jjut this is much too low on 

 a'ccount of the crushing. The proportion of width between septa 

 to the width of the shell is about 1 to 2.-l(J : in 0. holilieveJdensis 

 it is 1 to 2.6, in O. ga))i/raensis it is 1 to 5.4, so that this character 

 would apparently place it close to the first-named species, but the 

 crushing has made the shell api)ear wider than it was in life and 

 the true porportion would probably not have much exceeded 1 to 

 2. There is evidence of some irregularity of the size of the ;iir 

 chambers, but nothing that would lead one to suppose that this 



*R. McConuiek, Voyages of Discovery, Loudon, 18S), Vol. T , p. ;j;JO. 



