Freshwater Fossils from Central South Africa. 249 
fossils referred to in the paper, that this African formation, 
extending from the Zambesi country to Cape Colony, may be 
older than Eocene, and that its occurrence in a basaltic region 
comparable to that of the Deccan Trap country of Central 
India may point to a similar horizon for its deposition, viz., 
Upper Cretaceous. The assemblage of organisms found at 
present in the African rock is admittedly very small, but, so 
far as it goes, it seems to offer resemblances which would 
associate it in time with that characterizing the Intertrappean 
beds of India. It is to be hoped that additional specimens 
may be forthcoming which might help to confirm these strati- 
graphical suggestions, and so to strengthen the view that 
these chalcedonized deposits may represent part of the land- 
platform which united Africa with India during Cretaceous 
times. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VIII. 
GASTROPODA. 
Fig. 1. (A) Viviparus and (B) Paludestrina?. Dorsal views of surface- 
specimens, X 8. No, 1352. [Fig. 1 B has been intensified. ] 
Fig. 2. Viviparus; microscopical transverse section from near the base 
of a specimen, x 7. No, 1351. 
Fig. 3. Paludestrina?, dorsal view, x 8. No.1352, A surface-specimen 
embedded in rock. [Figure intensified. ] 
PLANT. 
Fig. 4. Chara stems as seen on the rock-surface, exhibiting typical 
longitudinal flutings and obscure transverse jointings, x 7. 
No. 1352. ‘ 
Fig. 5. A Chara fruit or oogonium of comparatively large size, exhibiting 
strong spiral ridges, embedded in a matrix cavity, x 7. 
No. 1352, 
Fig. 6, A surface-series of Chara fruits and cavities of minute size in 
longitudinal arrangement, with microscopically fine spiral 
striations, x 5. No. 1350. 
Fig. 7. A Chara stem cut transversely, as seen in a microscopical section 
of rock, showing the existence of about fourteen tubular 
apertures encircling the large central canal, x 8. No. 1361. 
[Figure intensified. | i 
Fig. 8. A group of transversely cut Chara stems, as seen in a micro- 
scopical section of rock exhibiting similar structures to the 
foregoing, x 10. No. 1382, 
Fg.9. Chara stems in transverse section, as seen in a microscopical 
preparation of rock showing an oval form with indications of 
the cortical cells, x 20. No. 1852. 
