TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. I47 



" The use of ether in the analysis of metals and alloys " : Prof. P. D. 

 Hahn. A note on the investigations of Rothc, Mylius, and Huttner 

 with regard to the removal of iron and gold from their solutions by 

 means of ether. — "The occurrence and distribution of manganese in the 

 Western Districts of the Cape Province": W. Yersfeld. A short account 

 of various localities where manganese had been found and of the natare 

 of such deposits. — "A supposed new mineral from the Du Toil's Pan 

 ]\line. Kimberley " : W. Yersfeld. The article consisted approximately 

 of 71.5% of iron, 20% of silicon, and 8.5% of carboii. It was very 

 refractory, and on crushing evolved an odour of acetylene. Tt was 

 stated to have been found in the deepest levels of the Du Toit's i'an 

 Mine. 



Geological Society ok South .\frica. — ]\Ionda\-. AugnsL 28th : Dr. 

 E. T. Alellor, F.G.S., President, in the chair. — " Note on some remarkable 

 Xenoliths of altered shale from the Norite of Potgietersrust and Mapoch's 

 country": A. L. Hall and C. Gardthausen. Shales belonging to the 

 Pretoria series, invaded I13' the Buslneld magma, had undergone re- 

 markable changes and lost all resemldance to the original shale. An 

 intercliangc or transference of material had taken place, v/hereby en- 

 tangled masses of shale — xenoliths — were intensely metamorphosed, more 

 or less permeated with igneous material, and converted into rocks with 

 highly abnormal mineralogical and chemical composition. — " Note on the 

 Tenmospondylous Stegocephalian Rhiiiesucliiis" : Dr. R. Broom. The 

 characteristic features of two or three apparently nearly complete skele- 

 tons of a large Tenmospondylous Stegocephalian found at Senekal, O.F.S.,' 

 were briefly descrilied. This Senekal Rlunesuchiis differs from both R. 

 }]'haitsi and R. Africaiitts in being considerably larger. The author there- 

 fore proposes to call the new species Rliincsitclius major. — " On the 

 remains of a Theropodous Dinosaur from the Northern Transvaal": Dr. 

 R. Broom. A number of fragmentary bones ot a Iheropodous Di.nosaur 

 apparently allied to Massospondylus found on the farm Wiepe on the 

 Limpopo had lieen described, before the Society in June, 1907. As the 

 result of increased knowledge of the structure of early types of Thei"Opo- 

 dous Dinosaurs, the author was now in a position to make a more 

 precise determination of the Transvaal form. As it agreed more closelj' 

 with Grypoiiy.x than with J\hissospondyius, he proposed to place it pro- 

 visionally under the former genus and to name it Grypoiiyx i'-ans- 

 vaalcnsis. — " On the occurrence of waterworn pebbles in the Lov/er 

 Beaufort Shales " : Dr. R. Broom. Most of the Lower Beaufort beds 

 were shallow water and land deposits. In the stratified shales of ihe 

 Lower Beaufort no fossil reptile had ever been found. In Lower Sean- 

 fort times what is now the Southern part of Africa was part of a flat 

 desert through which a huge river flowed, spreading out into marshes 

 and lakes about the centre of what is now the Cape Province. A 

 numjjer of waterworn pebbles were found by the author in the Moordenaars 

 Karroo, and at Koornplaats there were great masses of silicified wood 

 together with further waterworn stones. The latter had certainly been 

 carried thither by the drift-wood, which it was almost certain had come 

 from the north-east. The large river which transported this had flowed 

 south-west in pre-Karroo times, almost in the line of the present Harts 

 River, and had evidentlj' continued on through the Carnarvon Division. 



South African Institute of Engineers. — Saturday, September gth : 

 Mr. F. H. Davis, President, in the _chair. — "The Prevention of dust in 

 development drives of mines during drilling operations": C. J. N. 

 Jourdan. A system was described for preventing the formation of 

 dust by the removal of finely divided rock debris by means of a jet of 

 water under a pressure of 40 to 80 lb. per square incli playing unin- 

 terruptedly into the hole where the formation of dust would otherv/ise 

 be proceeding. 



Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa. — ' 

 Saturday, September i6th : Mv. W. R. Dowling, Vice-President, in the 

 chair. — " Notes on the use of certain cvanicides in the estimation of 



