ON SOUTH AFRICAN STRATA. 131 



APPENDIX II. 



Report by Professor E. Broom. 



I fear it is premature to decide on a general term for pre-Devonian 

 rocks. Archean seems a natural term for the lowest rocks, but, as you 

 define it, it becomes impossible. The Malmesbury beds are by no means 

 always schists. Clay slate is the general thing, and much of it has very 

 little mica. Here and there bands of limestone are met with, not 

 apparently greatly altered. Some South African geologists are of 

 opinion that the Malmesbury is not so very old, and many beds look 

 so fresh that one cannot resist the temptation to look for fossils, and 

 occasionally things turn up that have an organic look, but nothing deter- 

 minable has been got. At any rate, it is just possible that Malmesbury 

 may be Cambrian, though I think all the evidence is in favour of its 

 being very much older. Still, there is a doubt, and I fear we cannot use 

 Archean for it. In the meantime I am quite agreeable to drop Archean, 

 and I do not think Algonkian any better. Take the Dolomite. This, 

 according to the suggestion, would be Algonkian, but there seems a prob- 

 ability that it is not older than Cambrian. I object to Swaziland System 

 being used for all the older beds, because there is no evidence that 

 Malmesbury beds, Namaqualand, are of the same age. The evidence 

 is rather the other way. 



I object to ' Vaal River ' as a bad term for a formation. ' Vaal ' is 

 worse. As well speak of the ' Fawn ' formation. Some English 

 scientists sometimes forget that the words they use are very ordinary 

 Dutch words. 



The same objection and others might be urged against ' Table Moun- 

 tain Series.' The name is too long and out of harmony with other 

 geological names. I should prefer ' Tafelberg Series ' or ' Tafelber- 

 gian, ' which would be in harmony with ' Witteberg ' and ' Stormberg, ' 

 but ' Table Mountain ' seems too firmly established. ' Transvaal 

 System ' seems by far the best name. ' Potchefstroom ' is frightful. 



Report by Dr. F. H. Hatch. 



Since I am not in complete accord with some of the statements in 

 Professor Gregory's report, perhaps I may be permitted to state briefly 

 my own views on the subject which forms the terms of reference to the 

 Committee. 



The oldest beds in South Africa known to be fossiliferous are those 

 of the Cape System, and the fossil evidence shows them to be of 

 Devonian age. Since, at the Cape, the Dwyka Series is in conformable 

 relation with the uppermost division of the Cape System (the Witteberg 

 beds) and the same series unconformably overlies the Waterberg sand- 

 stone in the Transvaal, the latter must be older than the Witteberg beds : 

 that is, it must be either equivalent to the lowest division of the Cape 

 System (the Table Mountain sandstone), or it must be still older. It 

 follows that the underlying systems in the Transvaal' — the Potchef- 

 stroom (or Transvaal), the Ventersdorp, the Witwatersrand, and the 

 Swaziland Systems — must be all older than the Devonian. I have 



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