294 R. B. Newton — A Jurassic Shell from Somali-land. 



high proportion of endemic species (69 species out of 350 were 

 new). This appears to be due to two reasons. In the first case, 

 the Golis hills appear to contain limestones, which support a more 

 varied flora than the soil formed by the weathering of the gneiss 

 and schist. As travellers generally cross from the lowlands to the 

 plateau by the Sheikh Pass, which has been cut down to the Archean 

 series, they had previously missed this interesting flora. 



In the second place, the high pi-oportion of endemic species and 

 the fauna and flora of these hills may be explained by their being 

 inhabited by a group of species which entered the country from 

 land which formerly extended to the east. In the discussion at 

 the Geographical Society on Dr. Donaldson Smith's paper on his 

 journey to Lake Rudolf, Dr. Bowdler Sharpe remarked that some of 

 the Somali-land birds were allied to those of the Cape, and were 

 unlike the representative species that live in the intervening parts of 

 East Africa. It is most probable that the Jurassic rocks of Somali- 

 land are part of a band which once extended eastward into the 

 Indian Ocean, and may have been part of the hypothetical continent 

 of Gondwana-land or Lemuria. This continent was probably 

 separated from Equatorial East Africa, but was connected with the 

 Cape. Thus it is quite possible that some species may have reached 

 both the Cape and Somali-land without entering Equatorial Africa. 

 Hence one of the constituents of the fauna and flora of Somali- land 

 may be a remnant from those of the lost continent of Gondwana-land 

 and Lemuria. 



VI. Points for Further Inquiry. 



Considering how many travellers are now visiting Somali-land, it 

 may be advisable to refer to some of the principal points in reference 

 to the geology of Somali-land on which material is especially desired. 



1st. Collection of fossils from Duba ; from any cherts or limestone 

 on the Golis Range ; and from Fara-Daro. 



2nd. Information as to the dip of the limestones at Duba, Bihin, 

 or Fara-Daro. 



3rd. A 6ketch-map, on the scale of one or two inches to the mile, 

 of any part of the Golis Range which includes the ends of river- 

 valleys running northward to the coast and southward to the Hand. 

 The information especially desired is the course of the valleys, and 

 their relations to the watershed. 



4th. A comparison of the succession of rocks seen in the ascent of 

 Wein Deimoleh with those seen in the ascent of the plateau scarp at 

 the nearest point. 



II. — On the Occurrence of an Indian Jurassic Shell, 

 Pahallelovon Egertonianus, in Somali-land, Eastern 

 Africa. 



By E. Bullen Newton, F.G.S. 



MRS. E. LORT-PHILLIPS, during her journey in Africa, 

 collected some well-preserved ^4rc«-like shells from a river- 

 bed at Bihin, in Somali-land, which have been entrusted to me 



