528 . Miscellaneous. 
Possibly some of the slaty beds may prove to be of Silurian or 
Cambrian age. Recent deposits fringe the coast and are largely 
developed on the southern part of the island. The alluvial and peat 
deposits and old lake-bed accumulations have been largely explored 
by Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major and later by Mr. Standing, and have 
yielded numerous genera ot Nesopithecus, Megaladapis, Hippopotamus, 
Crocodilia, Chelonia, pyornis, ete. Myr. Baron also discovered the 
fossil remains of one of those long- snouted Gavial-like Crocodilia, 
considered to be of Lower Oolitic age, which was described and figured 
by Mr. R. B. Newton in the Gror. Mac., 1893; pp. 193-198, Pl. IX, 
under the name of Steneosaurus Baroni. 
It is interesting to mention that in the rocks described in 1889 by 
the Rev. Richard Baron as Jurassic in North-West Madagascar, the 
remains of a Sauropodous Dinosaur, referred by Mr. R. Lydekker to 
Bothriospondylus Madagascariensis, should haye been obtained by 
Mr. J. L. Last, closely resembling forms found near Oxford, also at 
Fletton, near Peterborough, and in the Kimeridge Clay of Wiltshire 
(see Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1895, vol. li, pp. 329-336). 
Mr. Baron furthermore communicated to the Linnean Society 
a valuable paper on ‘‘The Flora of Madagascar’? (Journ. Linn. Soe. 
Bot., vol. xxv, 1888, pp. 246-350), and was the author of the first 
geological textbook in Malagasy, 1896, pp. 191, with numerous 
illustrations in the text, a copy of which is preserved in the 
Geological Department of the British Museum. 
In 1891 the Council of the Geological Society of London marked 
their appreciation of Mr. Baron’s geological work in Madagascar by 
the award of the balance of the proceeds of the Murchison Geological 
Fund, in testimony of the interest taken by them in the geological 
work which amid many discouragements he was carrying on in 
Madagascar. 
Geologists owe a great debt of gratitude to such men as the 
Rev. Richard Baron and Mr. Standing in Madagascar, and the 
Rey. Samuel Couling, M.A., at Ching-chou-fu, Kiao-chow, North 
China, who in such distant regions and amid inimical surroundings 
have, with but little encouragement, carried on most valuable 
scientific researches and stimulated others to follow where a) have 
led the way. 
MISCHLUIANHOUS. 
— 
Srervico GroLocico E Mineraxoeico Do Brazit.—By a decree approved 
January ‘10th, 1907, the Federal Government of Brazil has established 
a Geological Survey with the title of Servigo Geologico e Mineralogico 
do Brazil, as a bureau of the Department of Industry, Highways, and 
Public Works. The service has already been organized, and systematic 
work has been commenced. The results of the Survey’s work will be 
published as rapidly as possible. Communications and exchanges 
should be addressed to the office of the service at No. 49, Rua da 
Quitanda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Orville A. Derby, Chief. 
