274 Notices of Memoirs — A. A. Freire de Andrade — 



The hypothesis of a former barrier of land between Africa and 

 America, which we know is supported by other facts of distribution/ 

 would alone explain the difSculty. 



On the other hand, in the Pacific we find no such break between 

 the north and south. The aquatic Mammals of Notopelagia have 

 evidently had free access to the whole of the Pacific for a long period, 

 and have well availed themselves of this facility. 



Again, while the great Southern Ocean exhibits a considerable 

 uniformity of marine mammalian life, we see the Northern waters 

 divided into two distinctly recognizable regions by the interposed 

 masses of land. All these facts, with the one exception of the 

 supposed Atlantic barrier, would tend in favour of the now generally 

 accepted doctrine that the principal masses of land and water are 

 not of modern origin, but have existed mainly in their present shapes 

 throughout all ages. 



II. — Reconhecimento Geologioo DOS Territorios Portuguezes, 



COMPREHENDIDOS ENTRE LoURENOO MaRQUES E O EiO ZaMBEZE. 



Por Alfredo A. Freire de Andrade. Dissertagao para o con-- 

 curso da 1^ Cadeira da Escola Polytechnica.' (Lisboa: Impreusa 

 Nacional, 1894.) 



A Geological Reconnaissance of the Portuguese Territories between 

 Lorenzo Marques and the Zambesi River. By A. A. Freire de 

 Andrade. Competitive dissertation for the seventh Chair in the 

 Polytechnic School. 8vo ; pp. 184, with a geological sketch-map. 

 (Lisbon, 1894.) 



THIS memoir contains an instructive description of the main 

 geographical and geological features of that part of the 

 Portuguese Province of Mozambique which lies south of the 

 Zambesi River. Apart from its natural features, the region is of 

 considerable interest at the present time, from its position between 

 the Transvaal and the British South African Company's Territories 

 on the one hand, and the sea on the other. In most English maps 

 the country is divided into the districts of Gaza, Sofala, Manica, 

 Sena, and Tete, but only three divisions are given in this paper, 

 namely, the districts of Lorenzo Marques and of Inhambane on the 

 south, and the Territories of the Mozambique and Zambesi Com- 

 panies on the north. The Lorenzo Marques district consists almost 

 exclusively of low, flat, or slightly undulating areas, bounded on 

 the west by the porphyritic mountains of the Limbombos range, 

 which run northwards from the Natal boundary. The range is 

 traversed by numerous rivers, the most important being the Incomati, 

 the Elephant, and the Limpopo. The Inhambane district is like- 

 wise a nearly flat, sandy plain of an average elevation of 300 metres, 

 which extends between the Limpopo and the Save River. Near the 

 coast, the level of the country abruptly falls towards the sea. Many 

 of the rivers and the lagoons of this district are largely charged with 

 saline materials. 



^ Cf. "Wallace, " Geogr. Distrib.," vol. i, p. 156. 



