84: Mr. Pt. B. Newton on 



may also be referred to as characteristically Eocene, whilst 

 ainoii^- the Gastroj)Ocls VoJutilithes cithara is important from 

 the distribution point of view, being known from the Eocene 

 areas of England, Europe, Egypt, and India." 



Moreover, everything seems to prove that tliis fauna is of 

 Middle Eocene or Lutetian age, thus coniirming the opinion 

 of Professor A. de Lajjparent *, who first made us acquainted 

 with the presence of rocks of that horizon in the Soudan area 

 of Africa, from' an examination of fossils obtained by Captain 

 Gaden at the same locality as yielded those collected by the 

 British officers, viz. Tamaskie, which is said to be 400 kilo- 

 metres west of Zinder. These fossils com prised the following 

 Mollusca and Echinoids, the latter having been determined 

 by M. Victor Gauthier : — 



{Nautilus cf. Lmnarclxi, Dcsliayes. 

 Nerita ( Velatcs) Schmideliann, CJiemuitz. 

 Lucina cf. yiyantea, Desbayes. 

 IPIesioIampas, sp. n. 

 Linthia cf. Ducrocqui, Cotteau. 

 Rhabdocidaris {Leiocidaris). 



The distribution of Eocene rocks in African territory 

 north of the Equator appears to be very considerable, since 

 fossils have been recorded of that age from the Cameroons by 

 Dr. Paul Oppenheim f, which were obtained by Dr. Esch, 

 the same palaeontologist iiaving also evidence of the Eocene 

 formation at Dahomey from a shell submitted to him by 

 Dr. Joi). Boehm ; and, again, Prof. G. Vasseur | has reported 

 the occurrence of Eocene Foraminifera found at a depth of 

 230 metres in the kingdom of Senegal. In the more nortiiein 

 and eastern parts of Africa these rocks are again largely 

 developed (including Marocco, Algeria, Egypt, Somaliland, 

 &c.), so that it is quite certain that the Eocene sea must 

 have covered an extensive area of that continent in ancient 

 Tertiary times, 



* A. de Lapparent, " Sur les traces de la Mer Lutetienne an Soudan," 

 aud "Sur de nouveaux fossiles du Soudan," Comptes Kendus, 1903, 

 vol. cxxxvi. pp. 1118 & 1297. 



t Paul Oppenheim, " Yorliiufige IMitthfilung iiber des auftreten vou 

 Eocan in Kanierun," Centrnlblatt MineraLiii-ie, Geol. u. Pal. (Stultgart) 

 1903, no. 12, pp. 373, 374 ; " Ueber Tertiiirfossilion wahrsoheinlich 

 Eozanen alters, von Kamerun," Beitrage Geologie vou Kanierun, by 

 Dr. Ernst Esch,&c., 1904, pp. 243-28o, pis. vi.-ix. 



X S. Vasseiu', " Sur la d(5couverte du terrain nunimulitique dans un 

 Bondage ex^cut^ a Saint-Louis du Sent^gal," Comptes lieudus, 1892, 

 vol. cxxxiv. pp. 60-03. 



