128 Reports and Proceedings. 



of coloured strata with, both liglit and dark blotclies, containing re- 

 spectively a smaller and larger proportion of the colouring oxide 

 than the general ground, but which are not arranged, as in the 2nd 

 case, concentrically with each other. 



The following specimens were exhibited : — 



Examples of variegated slates, marls, and sandstones ; fragments 

 of consolidated blocks from the Drift of Suffolk ; and of Sarsen 

 stones, from Avebury, Wiltshire : Upper Tertiary fossils collected 

 by the Eev. C Mozley in Iceland ; and two Flint Implements from 

 Canada ; exhibited by George Maw, Esq., F.G.S., etc. 



Hardened Chalk and Drift from Hertfordshire ; exhibited by W. 

 Whitaker, Esq., B A., F.C.S. 



Specimens of Staffellite from Nassau ; exhibited by H. Buerman, 

 Esq., F.aS. 



Geological Society of London. — II. February 6, 1867. — 

 Warington W. Smyth, Esq., M.A., F.E.S., President in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. " On the Jurassic Fauna and Flora of South Africa." By 

 Ealph Tate, Esq., F.G.S. 



In this paper the author gave descriptions of the undescribed 

 fossils in the Society's Museum, obtained from the following 

 secondary deposits of Cape Colony, in ascending order: — 



(1.) Karoo Beds. — These strata, containing Dicynodon and Iridina, 

 have yielded a flora which was stated to present close analogy with 

 the plants of the Coal-formations of Burdwan and Nagpur, India, 

 and the Newcastle Coal-field, New South Wales. The characteristic 

 plant in each of these deposits, and in the Karoo Beds, is a Gloss- 

 opteris. The author regarded the age of the Karoo Beds, from 

 their position and organic contents, as approximating to that of the 

 Trias ; and he described from them species of the following genera : 

 — Glossoipteris, Phyllotheca, Dictyopteris, Bvbidgea, n. g., and Ather- 

 stonea, n. g. 



(2). Phytiferous Beds of Geelhoutboom. — The flora of this deposit is 

 characterized by the presence of Palceozamia, Arihrotaxites, Asfle- 

 nites, Pecopteris, SpJienopteris, and Cyclopteris, several species of 

 which are comparable with certain others from the Oolitic series of 

 Europe, and of the Eajmahal Hills, India. One species, Asplenites 

 lobata, Oldh., is common to South Africa and India. 



(3). Marine Limestones, etc., of Port Elizabeth Province. — The great 

 mass of the fossils from this series are bivalves ; and the extreme 

 rarity of Cephalopoda, Polyzoa, Echinoderms, and Corals, was stated 

 to call to mind the conditions of life which prevailed during the 

 deposition of the upper members of the Lower Oolites in England. 

 The generic grouping is such as occurs in the Jurassic series ; and 

 though no genus represented in the South African fauna is peculiar 

 to the Jurassic rocks, yet the following give a marked Oolitic facies 

 to them : Belemnites [Canaliculati), Actceonina, Alaria, Neritopsis, 

 Pleuromya, Placunopsis, Isastrcca, etc. Four species were referred to 

 European forms, viz., Trigonia Cassiope, d'Orb., T. Goldfussi, Ag., 



