38 Hevieus — Mesosoic Phoits/roiii J(ipa)i. 



determineil. Then followed the gigantic ami extensive intrusions of 

 dolerite, which at the present day form such a conspicuous feature 

 in the scenery of the Karroo. 



The interior of the colony was intermittently elevated, and the old 

 land surface in the south disappeared henoath the waters of the 

 Indian Ocean. A series of peneplains, or plains of river-erosion, 

 mark the periods of rest and elevation of the country, the highest 

 of which is now found at an altitude of a little over 8,000 feet above 

 sea-level. The plateau of the Drakensberg has been deeply cut into 

 on the west and south-west, but on the south-east it presents an 

 almost unbroken face, over 300 miles in length, rising from 2,000" 

 to as much as G.OOO feet above the gi'ound at its base. 



IV. — Index Gknkrum kt Spkoierum Animalium. — Eeport of a 

 Committee, consisting of Dr. Henry Woopward (Chairman), 

 Dr. F. A. Bather (Secretary), Lord Walsingiiam, Dr. P. L. 

 ScLATER, Eev. T. E. K. Steriung, Dr. W. E. Hoyle, and the 

 Hon. Walter Eotuschild. 



SATISFACTOEY progress has been made by Mr. David Sherborn 

 in the recording of literature from ISOl onwards. Among othei: 

 works now indexed up to 1850 may be mentioned the " Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History," the " Academia Ca\^area," and the 

 " Neues Jahrbuoh fiir Mineralogie." Various tracts dealing with the 

 collation of difficult books have been issued, and a reprint of the 

 descriptions of new species of birds drawn up by Pallas for " Vroeg's 

 Catalogue," 17G4. has been published by the Smithsonian Institution, 

 under ]\Ir. Sherborn's care, from the uuicpie copy in the Linnean 

 Society's Library. The searcli for rare books still continues, and 

 any such acquisitions are made available for public use by transference 

 to one or other of the accessible libraries. Special thanks are due to 

 the Italian Government, the University of Padua, and Professor 

 Dante Pantanelli for enabling the Committee to examine the " Tavola 

 alfabetioa delle conchiglie adriatiche" of Stefano Andrea Eenier 

 (1804). Help of this nature, as well as valuable criticism, is 

 continually forthcoming from home and abroad, and the general 

 interest taken in the published volume (1758-1800) is highly 

 gratifying to Mr. Sherborn and satisfactory to this Committee, 

 which, in this connection, desires to return its thanks especially to 

 Mr. L. B. Prout and Mr. C. W. Eichmond. 



S, IE] "V I E AAT S. 



I. — Mesozoio Plants from Nagato and Bitchu. By M. Yoko- 

 yama. (Journ. Coll. Sci. Univ. Tokyo, vol. xx, art. 5, pp. 13, 

 and 3 pis. 1905.) 



PEOFESSOE YOKOYAMA has continued his studies of the 

 Mesozoic floras of Japan, and in the present communication 

 confirms his previous conclusion as to the Ehivtic age of the fossil 

 plants of the Coal-bearing series of Nagato. Eight species are 



