682 Dr. R. Broom — New Crocodiles from South Africa. 



later in this period.' That it was complete before the Glacial Epoch 

 began is generally admitted. Dr. Blanckenhorn,- adopting the three 

 epochs of ice-extension recognised in Germany, gives this arrange- 

 ment of the later history of the Jordan valley : — 



(1) First ice-age (rain epoch) : greatest height of the Jordan 

 valley lake. 



(2) First interglacial (dry epoch) : probable sinking of lake to 

 about 328 feet above present level, when the salt of jebel Usdum 

 was precipitated. 



(3) Second ice-age : rise of lake and formation of the high terraces. 



(4) Second interglacial : probably the age of the volcanic out- 

 breaks,^ so conspicuous in the northern part of the valley (also the 

 cutting of the Ghor). 



(5) Third ice-age : formation of the lower terraces. 



This chronological scheme is rather hypothetical, but it deserves 

 careful consideration. I think, however, I am right in claiming the 

 Esdraelon valley as a fragment of a system older than the Jordan, 

 and pronouncing that river guilty of removing its neighbour's land- 

 mark westward. Such a removal is almost inevitable, because the 

 descent of its tributaries on the right bank is so much more rapid 

 than the slope of the Kishon valley. 



11. — On a new Crocodilian Genus {Notochampsa) from the 

 Upper Stormberg Beds of South Africa. 



By R. Broom, M.D., Victoria Coll., Stelleubosch. 



MR. A. L. DU TOIT, of the Cape Geological Commission, who 

 has been for some months engaged in studying the Stormberg 

 beds in the eastern part of the Colony, has been fortunate in making 

 a number of discoveries of very great interest to the palaeontologist. 

 Among Vertebrates his most imjJortant finds have been the remains 

 of two small crocodiles. 



The first specimen, which was discovered by Mr. A. Isted in the 

 Cave Sandstone at Funnystone, Barkly East, consists of the im- 

 pressions of the under sides of most of the upper bones of the skull 

 and of most of the dorsal armour. There are also preserved the 

 remains of a scapula, a humerus, a radius and ulna, a femur, and 

 a number of ribs. A restoration of the skull is shown in Fig. 1. 

 When complete it probably measured 130 mm. in length, and the 

 length of the whole crocodile was probably about 600 mm. Though 

 the skull is too imperfectly preserved to show what are the relations 

 to the already known families, enough is preserved to show that the 

 crocodile belongs to the suborder Amphiccelia of Owen {= Mesa- 

 suchia, Huxley). The skull is characterised by the very large size 



1 One is reminded of the east and west flexui-es of later Pliocene age in the southern 

 part of England. 



- "Entstehung und Gesichte des Todten Meeres " : Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Palest. 

 Vereins, xix (1896), pp. 1-64. 



3 There is nothing left to give a precise date to this period, during which, according 

 to Dr. Blanckenhorn, prehistoric man appeared. It is supposed to be contemporaneous 

 with that of tlie German loess. 



