Vol. 70.] MIOCEXE VERTEBKATES FEOM BEITISH EAST AFRICA. 163 



Appendix II. 



On the Lowee Miocene Veetebeates from Beitish East 

 Africa, collected by Dr. Felix Oswald. 1 By Charles 

 William Andrews, D.Sc, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



[Plates XXVII-XXIX.] 



In this paper it is proposed to describe the vertebrate remains 

 collected by Dr. Oswald from beds of Lower Miocene age in 

 the neighbourhood of Karungu, near the eastern shore of the 

 Victoria Nyanza. Some other specimens of late Pliocene or 

 Pleistocene age will be described elsewhere. 



The beds from which the Miocene vertebrates were collected 

 appear to form part of the deposits of the delta of an old river, 

 flowing into the lake at a time when its surface was considerably 

 above its present level. These deposits are described in detail in 

 Dr. Oswald's paper. 



The mammalian fauna includes : Proboscidea, especially Dino- 

 tlierium hobleyi, previously described 2 from the same locality; 

 Artiodaetyls, represented mainly by Anthracotheres ; Perisso- 

 dactyls, represented by a Rhinoceros ; a small Hyracoid of 

 peculiar character ; a Rodent ; and a feline Carnivore. The 

 Reptilia are represented hj Chelonians, including a new species 

 of Cycloderma, a gigantic species of Testudo (also new), and a 

 species of JPodocnemis ; by Crocodiles of several types, including 

 probably a species of Bristichampsa, a genus previously known 

 only from the Eocene of France. Fishes are represented by a few 

 vertebrae and teeth, including one of a species of I* rot opt ems. 



The general character of the fauna indicates that the age of the 

 deposits is probably Lower Miocene (Burdigalien) and that it was 

 contemporary with the faunas of the Sables de l'Orleanais and of 

 Moghara, and probably also with the recently-discovered 3 fauna 

 of the Bugti Hills in British Baluchistan. In all these localities 

 Anthracotheres of similar type appear as an important constituent 

 of the fauna ; and, although at present the characteristic small 

 form of Dinotlierium has not vet been found at Moghara, never- 

 theless a primitive Tetrabelodon, closely similar to T. anyustidens, 

 which elsewhere accompanies the Dinotlierium, has been found in 

 that locality. The occurrence of a peculiar form of Hyracoid in 

 these beds might have been expected, when it is considered that 

 in the Upper Eocene of Egypt the group was represented by a 

 great variety of forms differing much in size and tooth- structure. 

 Probably further researches will show that this once-important 



1 Communicated by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1911, p. 943. 



3 G. E. Pilgrim,' The Vertebrate Fauna of the Gaj Series in the Bugti Hills 

 and the Punjab ' Paheont. Ind. n. s. vol. iv, mem. 2 (1912) ; also C. Forster- 

 Cooper in Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, vol. viii (1911) p. 711. 



