Prof. T. Rupert Jones — Some Central African Fossils. 555 



whether all the specimen had a similar composition, or whether the 

 slides represent portions of a spore-band. 



"The spores are much smaller than the macrospores usually 

 entering into the composition of British ' Spore-coal,' but seem to 

 be composed of an identical substance. The spores are of a reddish- 

 amber colour. In certain pai'ts of the slides bands of similarly 

 coloured material occur. Although all structure is effaced in these 

 bands, I have no doubt that they are derived from similar macro- 

 spores. The more numerous the spores in coal, the better is the 

 quality, on account of their highly inflammable resinous quality." 



Alluding to the above-mentioned coal near the mouth of the 

 Rikuru (see p. 553), Prof. Drummond states at page 188 of his 

 "Tropical Africa," — "I examined this section pretty carefully, and 

 fear I must differ slightly from Mr. Stewart in his geological and 

 economical view of the formation. The 7-foot seam described by 

 Stewart is certainly a deception, the seam being really composed of 

 a series of thin beds of alternately carbonaceous and argillaceous 

 matter, few of the layers of coal being more than an inch in thick- 

 ness. With some of the most carefully selected specimens I lit 

 a fire, but with disappointing results. Combustion was slow and 

 without flame. Although there were what can be called films of 

 really good coal here and there, the mineral, on the whole, seemed 

 of inferior quality, and useless as a steam-coal. From the general 

 indications of the locality I should judge that the coal existed only 

 in limited quantity ; while the position of the bed at the top of 

 a rocky gorge renders the deposit all but inaccessible. On the 

 whole, therefore, the Lake-Nyassa coal, so far as opened up at 

 present, can scarcely be regarded as having any great economical 

 importance, although the geological interest of such a mineral in this 

 region is considerable. Sections of the coal have already been 

 prepared for the microscope, and Mr. Carruthers, of the British 

 Museum, has identified the macrospores of Lycopodiaceous plants, 

 which are identical with similar organisms found in the coal-fields of 

 England." 



The specimen of coal from the neighbourhood of Mount Waller, 

 described above, lent to Mr. Carruthers, and kindly submitted for 

 examination, certainly seems to agree better with Mr. Stewart's 

 description, above quoted (p. 554), than with Prof. Drummond's 

 foregoing note on the character of his specimens. The variation of 

 a seam, both as to structure and composition, within a limited area, 

 may possibly account for the difference. 



Fossils. - At about 60 miles N. by W. from the locality where 

 the above-mentioned coal was obtained, Prof. Drummond discovered, 

 at Maramura (as by label), not far from Karonga, on Lake Nyassa 

 (and about 20 miles along the " Stevenson Road " to Lake Tangan- 

 yika), some interesting fossils, as mentioned at pages 191-195 of 

 his book — i( About a dozen miles from the north-western lake shore 

 on the route to Tanganyika, after following the Rukuru River 

 through a defile of granite rocks, I came, to my great surprise, upon 

 a well-marked series of stratified beds. At a bend in the river a 



