392 REPORT—1905. 
Molteno Beds, and an upper, which includes the Red Beds, the Cave Sandstone, and 
the Volcanic group. 
The Dwyka and Ecca Series are considered to represent the Lower and Middle 
Permian of Europe, and the Lower Beaufort Beds the Upper Permian. 
The Middle Beaufort and Upper Beaufort Beds are believed to correspond to 
the Lower and Upper Trias of Europe. 
The Lower Stormbere Beds are believed to be Rhetic, and the Upper 
Stormberg Beds Lower Jurassic. 
3. The Continent of Africa in relation to the Physical History of the 
Earth. By Professor W. J. Souias, #28. 
In accordance with the results obtained mathematically by J. H. Jeans (‘ Phil. 
Trans.,’ 1903, A. 201, p. 157), the gradual evolution of the form of the earth and 
the distribution of the oceans may be supposed to have been somewhat as follows : 
Soon after the birth of the moon the earth acquired a form like that of a pear, 
and so solidified. The aqueous atmosphere then condensed to form an ocean, 
which would be deepest round the neck of the pear. This ocean, which was the 
ancestor of the existing Pacific, formed a girdle round the globe, with a smaller 
continental mass in the middle on one side and a much larger continent (the 
present ‘land hemisphere’) on the other, forming respectively the stalked and 
broad ends of the pear. The land hemisphere then collapsed along an annulus, 
now represented by a part of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Oceans, and 
leaving a bulging ring of land represented by North and South America, the 
Antarctic Continent, Australia, and Asia. 
The centre of the mass of land at the broad end of the pear lies in the middle 
of Africa, which thus represents the remains of the primeval continent. This 
view is in harmony with the known absence of marine sediments over the greater 
part of the interior of Africa, notwithstanding the thick accumulations of flat- 
bedded strata existing there. 
The smaller continent at the stalked end of the pear may have been represented 
by a tract of land formerly occupying part of the Pacific Ocean, for which some 
evidence exists, 
4, Report on the Fauna and Flora of the Trias of the British Isles. 
See Reports, p. 161. 
5. Report on the Erratic Blocks of the British Isles. 
6. Report on the Underground Waters of North-west Yorkshire. 
See Reports, p. 170. 
7 Report on Life-Zones in the British Carboniferous Rocks, 
See Reports, p. 171. 
1 See ‘The Age of the Earth,’ by W. J. Sollas (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1905), 
pp. 44-64; and ‘The Figure of the Earth, (7. G.S., 1903, vol. lix., p, 180. 
