Miscellaneous — Coal in S. Africa. 143 



Stigmarian remains, and the Lower Marine Beds and Lower Coal- 

 Measures of the Jamberoo and Saddleback Districts contain Lepido- 

 dendron and Prodiictus scahriculatus. Specimens of the last-named 

 Palliobranch, if I remember rightly, are in the Museum attached to 

 the Mining Department, Sydney, to which institution I presented 

 them in 1877. Locality, Jamberoo Mountains, Illawarra District, 

 N.S.W. All these formations are conformable to each other, 

 although in places unconforraability exists, owing to unequal deposi- 

 tions in parts. My classification for the New South Wales Coal 

 deposits is as follows : 

 «. "WiANAMATTA Shales. ( Thill laminated shales, clods, and clifts. No work- 



(Mynyddyslwyn Series.) ( able coal. Obscure plant-remains. 600 ft. cu-cum. 

 j8. Hawkesbury Eocks. ( Fine whitish sandstones. No workable coal. Cavities 



(Pennant Series.) I. of Carpoliths ? 1300 ft. circ. 



f Sandstones, chocolate -coloured shales, rich beds of 



jj ^ -p I clay-band iron ore, thin beds of limestones with 



'^' (W 11+ ^ '^ "^ Palliobranch, undetermined. Conglomerates with 



^ ■' I jasper, and blue and purple shales. No workable 



l^ coal. 650 ft. circ. 

 5. IJppEB, Coal Measures. ( Shales and sandstones, workable coal and fire-clay. 



(Rhondda Series.) \ Stigmaria, Sigillaria, etc. 1200 ft. circ. ' 



e. Low^ER Marine Beds. ( Bands of limestones, clay-band iron ore. Productus 



(Iron Ball Series of \ scahriculatus, etc. No workable coal. 500 ft. circ. 

 Merthyr, etc.) ( 4 



f. Lower Coal-Measures. | Sandstones, shales, workable coal, fire-clay. Lepido- 



(Eas Las Series.) { dendron, etc. 1800 ft. circ. 



Total thickness 5950 ft. circ. 



The Devonian formation, I believe, is lai'gely represented in 

 South Australia by the Mount Lofty and Huramuck Eanges, as 

 well as by the Murrumbidgee deposits of N.S.W. ; whilst the great 

 mass of auriferous slates and sandstones of New South Wales, as 

 well as those of Victoria, are undoubtedly Silurian. 



Alfred Cruttwell, F.G.S. 



London, Feb. I5th, 1882. 



avniso:EiiLXj.i^n:sr:H]OTJS. 



Coal in South Africa. — We learn that various and prolific 

 seams of anthracite and bituminous coal, some of them 10ft. or 12ft. 

 in thickness, have been found in Natal, several being well adapted 

 for locomotive and general steam purposes. That this coal is suitable 

 for the former work has been proved by driving the locomotives of 

 the existing railways for some hundreds of miles to and fro between 

 Durban and Maritzburg. The possibility of using cheap local fuel 

 instead of costly English coal in these distant colonies must give a 

 great impetus to railway construction, and an extension beyond 

 Ladysmith, in Natal, will provide a better and more expeditious 

 highway to the Transvaal and Orange Free State. The Railway 

 Bill for the expenditure of £5,000,000 upon railway construction 

 in Cape Colony, which has just received the sanction of the Assembly 

 at Cape Town, contemplates the intersection by a main line of the 

 coal deposits of that colony. Thei-efore, after considerable delay, 

 those coal-fields are now about to be placed in direct communication 

 with both the coast and the Diamond Fields. — English Mechanic, etc. 



