40 Iteviews — Geological Survey of Natal. 



Zululand, where the whole series, from the glacial (Dwyka) con- 

 glomerate upwards, is well developed. Here, as elsewhere in the 

 country, the plant and coal-bearing beds occur in the higher part 

 of the series, and many of the shale beds contain abundant remains of 

 Glossopteris and Phyllotheca. With the exception of the coal-bearing 

 series at the base of the Drakensberg, containing Thinnfeldia and 

 Pterophyllum, belonging to the Stormberg series, and approximately 

 of Triassic age, Mr. Anderson states that all the coal-bearing rocks 

 of Natal and Zululand contain a Glossopteris flora and are of Ecca 

 or Permo-Carboniferous age. 



The Dwyka, or, as Mr. Anderson prefers to term it, Ecca Con- 

 glomerate, is widely distributed in Zululand, and occurs at all 

 heights from the sea-level to the highest portion of the plateau ; 

 detached outliers of it are often present on the higher ridges and 

 mountains. In a few localities, sandy beds, free from pebbles and 

 boulders, are intercalated between the typical conglomerates. Striated 

 rock-pavements also occur ; the author mentions a fine example in 

 the bed of the Umfolosi river, where a striated quartzite pavement, 

 directly overlain by the glacial conglomerate, is partially denuded 

 by the river. The author feels no doubt that this ancient con- 

 glomerate is a till or boulder-clay of terrestrial origin. 



The Cretaceous fossils described by Mr. Etheridge are from 

 a shelly limestone at Umkwelane Hill, a few miles inland from the 

 coast. The rock is crammed with fossils, which, however, invariably 

 break up in the attempt to free them from the hard matrix. The 

 fossils are largely Pelecypods and Gasteropods, with a few 

 Cephalopods belonging to Placenttceras, Creniceras, Hamites, and 

 Bacidites, and some fragmentary shark's teeth. 



In all 37 species of mollusca, belonging to almost as many genera, 

 have been determined, and their affinities carefully worked out by 

 Mr. Etheridge, and they are admirably figured on three plates. 

 Several species show relationships to forms from the Trichinopoly 

 groups of India, the Chico and Tejon groups of California, the Fort 

 Pierre and Foxhills groups of the north-west of the United States, 

 and the Greensands of New Jersey ; but no resemblance to those 

 forming the Australian Cretaceous fauna. 



Mr. A. C. Seward's report on collections of Natal fossil plants 

 treats first on those from the Ecca coal-series of Umhlali, on the 

 north-east coast of Natal. In these beds " Glossopteris Broioniana is 

 exceedingly abundant; NoeggeratJiiopsis is possibly represented, 

 and stems doubtfully placed in the genus Scliizoneura are fairly 

 plentiful. No undoubted Gangamopteris has been recognized. On 

 the whole the evidence would appear to support the view that the 

 plant-beds are approximately homotaxial with the Damuda beds 

 of India, and belong to the Beaufort Series of South Africa." The 

 plants from the Drakensberg Range in West Natal comprise species 

 of Thinnfeldia and Pterophyllum, together with a species of doubtful 

 affinity, and of these Mr. Seward says that they point to an horizon 

 considerably above that of the Umhlali plant-beds, and approximately 

 Rhsetic or Lower Jurassic. 



