A CENTRAL AFRICAN GLACIER OF TRIASSIC AGE 687 

 AGE OF THE LUBILACHE 



Studt,^ from general stratigraphic relations, considers the 

 Lubilache in the Katanga to be the equivalent of the Stormberg 

 member (Trias) of the Karoo. This correlation is confirmed by 

 fossils collected by us. While these plant and animal remains 

 are of a fragmentary character, they are nevertheless sufficient to 

 place rather definitely the horizons from which they were collected. 

 Dr. E. O. Ulrich, of the U.S. Geological Survey, kindly determined 

 the fossils, and places the age of the series probably in Jura-Triassic 

 time. Fossils were found by us, and described by Dr. Ukich as 

 follows: Shale from Niangwe 200 feet above base of Lubilache 

 series: "Fragments of plants undeterminable." 



Chert from Sandy Beach (on Congo, 130 miles above Leopold- 

 ville) perhaps 150 feet above base: "Probable broken sponge 

 spicules and suggestions of branching sponges." 



Limy shales ten miles below Stanleyville and 150 (?) feet above 

 the base of series. Dr. Ulrich states: 



These are crowded with Ostracoda and with these fewer bivalved phyllopods 

 and fragmentary dermal ossicles of ganoid fishes. So far as observed the 

 Ostracoda belong to fresh and brackish water species of Cypris and Candona 

 and perhaps other genera of C)TDridae. Unfortunately the form in these 

 Ostracoda is very similar in species, ranging from Pennsylvanian on to recent 

 times. But the aUiances of your specimens seem to be rather nearer Mesozoic 

 species than to Tertiary 



With the Ostracoda I find a single valve of a neat Estheria. The surface 

 ornament appears minutely radiate under a hand lens but more closely 

 examined is found to consist of sharp radially disposed bars crossing the flat 

 spaces between the concentric ridges. This type of ornament is found in two 

 recent species {E. donaciformis and E. similis Baird) and also in two Mesozoic 

 species {E. elliptica Dunker and E. subquadrata Sowerby), but the Stanley- 

 ville species evidently differs in outline from all of these and doubtless repre- 

 sents a distinct, probably new, species. The fish remains are too fragmen- 

 tary to be determined. 



Mr. R. Kotska, prospector of the Lower Congo-Katanga Rail- 

 road, found a fossil crustacean at Sangula at the confluence of the 

 Buschinmai and Sankuru rivers. This specimen has been turned 

 over to us through the kindness of ofiicers of that company. The 

 prospector, a man with considerable geological knowledge, describes 



' Annates du Musee du Congo, serie II, "Katanga" (Bruxelles, 1908), 14. 



