294 Dr. Kitchin—Invertebrate Fauna of Uitenhage Series. 
a similar distribution, and, like Seebachia, is without any near 
representative in the European area. The distribution of Gervillie 
of the type of G. dentata and large Exogyre resembling EL. imbricata 
may perhaps also be allowed to have some significance when considered 
in relation to the occurrence of the forms with which they are 
associated. 
These, in brief, are some of the more significant facts which must 
be borne in mind when we consider the broad questions of distribution 
which arise from a comparative study of the Uitenhage Mollusca. 
Having regard to the manner in which a number of the ammonoids 
from the Sunday’s River Beds permit of close comparison with related 
European types, it is surprising that these South African forms or 
even closely allied species are as yet unknown to occur in Cutch, and 
their apparent absence from the Neocomian deposits of German East 
Africa and of South America is also noteworthy. Nevertheless, 
a study of the Uitenhage fauna, undertaken in the light of fuller 
knowledge, dispels the idea, put forward and emphasised by 
M. Neumayr, that this fauna proclaims its isolated position by the 
sharp contrast it shows.to the comparable faunas of other regions, and 
that it may hence be considered to support the theory of an Indo- 
African land-barrier in early Cretaceous times.! Neumayr laid great 
stress upon the contrast between the fauna of the Neocomian 
belemnite-beds in the north-west of Madagascar and that of the 
Uitenhage Series. Even allowing that these faunas are strictly 
contemporaneous, which has not yet been demonstrated, it is probable 
that the difference of facies, as recognised by P. Lemoine, would 
alone suffice to account for the contrast. These belemnite-beds in 
Madagascar probably represent comparatively deep-water conditions, 
while the Uitenhage fauna exhibits a shallow-water, littoral character. 
Since the time when Neumayr wrote, great advances in our knowledge 
of the occurrence of Cretaceous deposits in Madagascar and on the 
neighbouring African coast have been made by French geologists, and 
many facts have now been brought to light which cast doubt upon the 
existence of an effective barrier to migration between the equatorial 
and southern waters to the east of the African continent in Cretaceous 
times. It may reasonably be asserted that the evidence derived from 
a study of the Neocomian fossils of Cape Colony gives no support to 
Neumayr’s views . 
_ It is well known that Neumayr attached great importance to the 
occurrence of Belemnites africanus, Tate, in the Uitenhage Series in 
support of his theory of the distribution of cephalopods according to 
climatic zones.» He found this form to belong to a group which, 
though occurring in the colder waters of the northern hemisphere, is 
without representative in the warmer equatorial regions. The known 
distribution of Holcostephanus (sensu stricto) might be thought to 
contribute in like manner and with no less force of suggestion to the 
1 M. Neumayr, ‘‘ Die geographische Verbreitung der Juraformation ’’: Denkschr. 
d. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-Nat. Classe, Band 1 (1885), p.57. ‘‘ Erdgeschichte,”’ 
Band ii, 2nd ed., pp. 259, 261, 295, 296, 529; Leipsic and Vienna, 1895. 
_ ® M. Neumayr, ‘‘ Ueber neuere Versteinerungsfunde auf Madagascar’’: Neues 
Jahrb. fiir Min., 1890, Band i, p. 1. 
