THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE IV. VOL. III. 



No. VII.— JULY, 1896. 



OttTG-TlSTJL.X* ARTICLES. 



I. — A Note on the Geology of Somali-land, based on Col- 

 lections made by Mrs. E. Lort-Phillips, Miss Edith Cole, 

 and Mr. G. P. V. Aylmer. 



By J. W. Gregory, D.Sc, F.G.S. 



SINCE the famous expedition 1 of the late F. L. and W. James, 

 of E. Lort-Phillips and G. P. V. Aylmer, in 1884-5, 

 opened the Somali plateau to European exploration, the country has 

 been repeatedly traversed. A valuable series of geographical 

 memoirs, hunting journals, and bluebooks has described the main 

 features in the topography of the country, and given many suggestions 

 as to its geological structure. The collections of Dr. Eevoil 2 and 

 Prof. Keller 3 have proved that Neocomian beds occur there, and 

 thus have shown that it is of greater interest than most of the 

 monotonous unfossiliferous wastes of East Africa. 



In the winter of 1894-5 Messrs. E. Lort-Phillips and G. P. V. 

 Aylmer, two members of the James' expedition, returned to the 

 country, accompanied by Mrs. Lort-Phillips and Miss Edith Cole. 

 Their expedition made some very important botanical and zoological 

 collections, which have been already described. 4 Shortly after their 

 return Mrs. Lort-Phillips kindly entrusted me with the examination 

 of the geological collection which she had made. Subsequently 

 Miss Edith Cole and Mr. Ajdmer were also so kind as to lend me 

 their collections. These together enable an outline geological 

 section to be drawn from the coast at Berbera on the main Somali 

 plateau ; while, moreover, by the proof of the occurrence of marine 

 Jurassic rocks in this country, they make an important addition to 

 our knowledge of the geological history of Somali-land. 



The specimens all came either from the district of Guban, the 

 tract of country between Berbera and the foot of the inland plateau, 



1 F. L. James, " The Unknown Horn of Africa," 1888. 



2 Described by T. de Rochebrune in Geo. Eevoil, " Faune et flore des pays 

 Qomalis," p. 39, pis. i-iv. Paris, 1882. 



3 Described by C. Mayer-Eymar. " Ueber Xeocomian : Versteinenmgen aus deui 

 Somali-land": Vierteljahrsehrift Naturfors. Gesells. Zurich, Jahrg. xxxviii, 1893, 

 pp. 249-65, pis. i, ii. 



4 "Diagnoses Africans, " pt. vii : Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew, !Xo. 105, 1S95, 

 pp. 211-30. E. Lort-Phillips, ibid., 1895, pp. 211-30. 



DECADE IV. VOL. III. — NO. VII. 19 



