516 Notices of Memoirs — M. D. (Eklert — On Neio Crinoids. 



taking a minimum quantity, we take an average, we should find, 

 even leaving the Sand Eiver coal out of the calculation, that in the 

 Vaal Eiver coal-bed alone there must be some 1,225,120,000 tons 

 awaiting the miner — a quantity of coal which, at the same low rate 

 as that before mentioned (5s. per ton), would represent a value of 

 £300,000,000. 



From calculations based on those used in England, Mr. Stow 

 finds that the Free State coal-supply would be sufficient to allow of 

 a yearly consumption of more than 6,000,000 tons for a period of 

 1,200 years ! 



It is not improbable that, as great outcrops of coal in this portion 

 of South Africa show themselves in the Free State, along the Vaal 

 Valley, and also in the Transvaal, west of the Drakensberg, asso- 

 ciated with the rocks dipping eastward, and as they again appear in 

 the Utrecht Division of the same province, as well as at Biggarsberg 

 (Newcastle) in Natal, to the east of the same great range, these are 

 all parts of the same great coal-field ; the Drakensberg mountains 

 occupying their synclinal trough. If, after proper investigation, 

 such should prove to be the case, the supply of South-African coal 

 will be enormous, throwing the figures above quoted, vast as they 

 appear, completely in the shade. 



The Free-State coal has not yet been analyzed ; but, as a rule, the 

 amount of " ash " in this South-African coal is much greater than 

 that imported from Europe. Some of the duller kinds leave 

 " clinkers " when burnt ; but all those I have tried, says Mr. Stow, 

 give out an intense heat. Mr. North, the Colonial Engineer, in his 

 excellent Keport upon the subject, considers that with specially 

 constructed furnaces and movable fire-bars, the objections raised 

 against Cape coal may be overcome ; while Mr. A. N. Ella, who 

 consumes large quantities of fuel for steam-purposes, considers that 

 a ton (of 2000 lbs.) of Indwe coal at 40s., would be cheaper than 

 two loads of firewood at the same price, besides the labour saved in 

 chopping up the latter. 



In the present Eeport Mr. Stow has not touched upon the addi- 

 tional scientific knowledge gained during this geological survey ; 

 but the facts collected fully bear out, he believes, the deduction to 

 which he was led by a study of similar rocks in Griqualand-West. 



Although much work has been done, a reference to the map of 

 the Eeport will show that much of the Free-State has yet to be 

 examined ; and it is to be hoped that the completion of this im- 

 portant Survey will be fully carried out. 



II. — Description de deux nouveaux genres de Crinoides dit 

 terrain Devonien de la Mayenne, par M. D. (Ehlert. (Bull. 

 Soc. Geol. de France, 3 e - serie, t. vii e - pp. 6-10.) 



INTEBCALATED with the beds of shelly Devonian Limestone at 

 La Baconniere, Saint-Germain and Saint-Jean (in the Depart- 

 ment of Mayenne), are some layers of black schist. These schists 

 contain but few fossils, the following, excepting the subjects of this 

 paper, being the only species yet found : — Spirifer Bousseau, S. 



