﻿444 M. Verbeek — Oeology of Sumatra. 



slates of the oldest part of the Eocene formation {5a) ; the latter 

 contain, on the Eiver Sankarewang, remains of Fishes and Plants. 



The following summary, by Prof. H. B. Gbinitz and Dr. W. v. d. 

 Makck {Report Imp. Geol. Tiistit. Vienna, August 31, 1876), of the 

 information they have obtained on the geology and fossils of 

 Sumatra, may be introduced here with advantage. 



Mr. R. D. M. Verbeek has noticed the following succession of rocks 

 (in ascending order) nearFortVan-der-Capellen, West-Coast, Sumatra. 



1. Grey Limestones abounding with a large splierical form of 

 Fusulina (belonging to the group of Fus. robasta, Meek), and the 

 ossicles of Crinoid stems. This Fusulina approaches very near the 

 Carinthian form Fus. globosa. Prof Geinitz's Fas: Verbeeki is 

 identical with Ehrenbei'g's Borelis princeps from the hornstone of 

 the Carboniferous Limestone near Archangel. I^hese limestones 

 may be ranked in the Upper Carboniferous, or eventually, perhaps, 

 in the Inferior Dyadic (Lower Permian) Series. 



2. Marl-shale Formation [^Mai'l-slates^, dark-grey, thinly laminated 

 shales, with remains of Fishes, analogous to those of Glaris. These 

 Shales, immediately resting on greenstones, are considered by Prof. 

 Geinitz and Dr. von der Marck to be a connecting link between 

 Cretaceous and Eocene deposits ; and by Professors Herz and R. 

 Jones to be Eocene. [Dr. Gunther, however, has indicated their 

 very close alliance with recent forms.] 



3. Sandstones loith Coal-seams, without organic remains, nearly 

 1000 feet thick, resting unconformably on the Marl-shales. The 

 only fossils in them are undeterminable stalks and leaves of plants, 

 small MelanicB, and traces of Fish. 



4. Marly Sandstones, very far spread ; a marine deposit with 

 remains of Ostrea, Pecten, and Serpula. 



5. Coral-limestones (rather extensively overlying group 4) ; includ- 

 ing internal casts of Gasteropods and Conchifers, together with 

 Echinidce comparable with the Eocene forms Prenaster Alpinus, 

 Desor, and Periaster sub-globosus, Desor. 



The fossil Fishes from the laminated, black-brown, bituminous 

 shales, with Coprolites, have been described by Dr. W. v. d. Makck 

 as four new species, namely, Protosyngnathus Sumatrensis [^Auliscops 

 Sumatranus, Giinther], Sardinioides amblystoma [Thynnichthys amblyo- 

 stoma, Gunther], Brachyspondylus saropteryx, and B. Indicus [^Pseudo- 

 tropius Verbeelcii, Giinther] ; and in his opinion this fauna, especially 

 Sardinites, allows him to parallelize these shales both with the 

 uppermost Cretaceous beds of Westphalia and Syria and with the 

 Eocene fish-beds of Monte Bolca, and thus to regard them as an 

 intermediate link between Cretaceous and Eocene, and analogous to 

 the " Liburnian " horizon of Istria and Dalmatia. — Report Geol. 

 Instit. Vienna, August 31, 1876. 



Dr. Gunther points out {op. cit. supra, p. 434) that of the nine 

 genera of Fishes represented in the Sumatran Collection which he 

 examined, all but one have living species, mostly in India and 

 Sumatra. 



