194 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [NoV. 17, 



In a plain at the foot of the Rhenosterberg, a branch of the 

 Sneewbergen Range (of which latter the Spitzkop is the culminating 

 point), the author met with patches of ground strewed with nodular 

 concretions and fossil wood (specimens 2 to 63) over an extent of 

 about two miles in length and one in width. These fossils were on 

 the surface, and had been probably derived from the neighbouring 

 mountains. 



The plain was of a lozenge-shape, about twelve miles broad and 

 twenty long ; and was one of several of a similar kind that he had 

 travelled through. It was bounded by the Rhenosterberg Moun- 

 tains on the N.E., on the S.W. by a nearly parallel range, and on 

 the S.E. was contracted to a narrow valley between low rocky hiUs. 

 Two low volcanic dykes crossed the plain, one on the north-western, 

 and the other on the south-eastern side. 



The strata forming the mountains are horizontal. There are 

 about eight strata of sandstone forming the lower part of the 

 Rhenosterberg. Immediately above there is a limestone full of 

 rounded fragments of other calcareous and non-calcareous rocks, 

 and sometimes containing bones (specimens 64, 65, 6Q). Of this 

 pebbly limestone, or calcareous grit, there are four layers, separated 

 one from another by several yards of strata, and varying in thick- 

 ness from a few inches to about a foot. 



The mountains on the opposite side of the plain are apparently 

 composed of the same strata as the Rhenosterberg ; for, taking a 

 commanding position on one of the dykes, one can distinctly count 

 the strata in the mountains on either side ; and so uniform are they 

 in colour and thickness, so alike in height, and equally horizontal in 

 position, that the idea at once forces itself upon the mind that they 

 must at one time have been continuous. 



At one spot on the side of the Rhenosterberg is a Kloof where 

 the author found some fossils imbedded in the rock ; and he often 

 regretted when visiting the spot that the Kaffirs had left him nothing 

 but a hammer and old chisel that were thrown into the waggon at 

 starting, as with better tools he might have obtained many more 

 specimens. Here he found the specimens 68, 69, which appear to 

 be casts of stems of plants in sandstone. 



The first bones he here discovered were those of the skeleton, spe- 

 cimen No. 83 (a small Dicynodon). They were directly in the water- 

 course, and only a small piece of one part was at first visible. By 

 dint of hammering and chiseling each succeeding portion revealed 

 itself to view. Unfortunately the skuU was wanting. Underneath 

 a large part of it there was a whitish scaly appearance on the rock, 

 which might have been the remains of the covering that the animal 

 had when alive. 



Many portions of the strata here were matted together with the 

 stem-like fossils, such as specimens 70-75. Specimens 76 to 82 

 (nodular concretions) appear to have been washed from the same strata. 



The specimen No. 125 (leg-bone) was found in the rock a short 

 distance off. 



