Reviews — Caije of Good Hope — Annual Geological Report. 415 



that this useful survey of the rock formations is not being pushed 

 on irrespective of cost. Engineers visiting South Africa have 

 acknowledged the value of the work accomplished by the Com- 

 mission, and the present report shows that the officers of the staff 

 pay especial attention to this all-important subject. Surely the most 

 ' practical ' of men cannot fail to see the necessity of knowing the 

 order of succession, distribution, and structure of the rock formations, 

 for on these the success or failure of boring for water, as well as 

 the search for minerals, essentially depends. Let us hope that the 

 Commission will be afforded greater facilities for continuing their 

 work on the same sure grounds with which it has been and is being 

 conducted. 



In the present report a useful, if somewhat brief, summary by the 

 Director, Mr. A. W. Rogers, precedes the detailed account of the 

 areas examined, A table of strata of the succession in Cape Colony, 

 with their probable European equivalents, is here given, but without 

 comment. We note, however, that the table is to be regarded as 

 that used at present by the Survey. Evidently, then, alterations and 

 additions may be expected as the field-work proceeds. 



The detailed portion of the report includes a description of the 

 geology of the north-western part of Van Ehyn's Dorp by the 

 Director. The discovery of another set of rocks, termed the 

 Nieuwerust Series, shows how much remains to be done before 

 South African stratigraphy is reduced to something like order. This 

 series, consisting of arkose, quartzite, and slate, is regarded as later 

 in age than the Malmesbury Beds, granite, and the Ibiquas Series. 



The descriptive account of the geology of Long Kloof, by E. H. L. 

 Schwarz, shows that here we are dealing with a highly folded region, 

 as to the nature of which Mr. Schwarz offers some interesting 

 suggestions. 



Mr. A. L. du Toit presents a very detailed and interesting account 

 •of the geology of Aliwal North, Herschel, Barkly East, and part of 

 Wodehouse. Considerable additions are made to our knowledge of 

 the Karroo Series. Mr. Du Toit finds it possible, on palasontological 

 evidence, to divide the great thickness of the Beaufort Series into 

 two portions. For the upper portion he proposes the name 

 " Burghersdorp Beds." Besides being characterized by a special 

 reptilian fauna, they are further interesting from the occurrence of 

 Glossopteris and Lepidodendroid stems in association with Thinn- 

 feldia. In the account of the volcanic beds of the Stormberg Series, 

 descriptions are given of over sixty volcanoes occurring in Wode- 

 house, Barkly East, and Herschel ; while descriptions of others in 

 Aliwal North are promised. This evidence of powerful vulcanicity 

 is unique in the Jurassic period of the earth's history. 



A special feature of the report consists in the welcome addition of 

 numerous black and white maps illustrating the areas described. 

 The want of headlines, a fuller table of list of contents, and a more 

 copious index will be felt by the general reader. Some of the 

 figures, too, are without accompanying scales, and the frequent 

 inclusion of their descriptive indices in the text becomes exasperating. 



