202 Huxley — New Fossil Reptiles, 



is moderately expanded at eacli end. The radius and ulna are 

 rather shorter than the humerus. The manus (Fig. 2 d) has 

 slender digits, some of which were certainly terminated by claws, 

 and which seem to have been present in the full number of five. 

 The impression of the pelvis is distinctly visible, though its details 

 cannot be clearly made out. The femur is a long and strong bone, 

 not notably dilated at either extremity. The tibia is stouter than 

 the fibula ; both bones are considerably shorter than the femur. 

 The total length of the leg without the foot is 1-8 inch ; that of the 

 fore-limb without the manus is 1'4 inch. The foot, represented as 

 twice the size of nature, in Fig. 3, seems to have been penta-dactyle, 

 with slender digits, the largest of which could hardly have been 

 shorter than the tibia. 



Our knowledge of the characters of the trunk and of the limbs of 

 the Dicynodonts is very defective, but the limb-bones of this skeleton 

 are so unlike any of the corresponding bones which are known 

 among the Dicynodonts, that I think there can be little doubt that 

 the fossil is not the trunk of Dicynodon. On the other hand, it is 

 in many respects curiously like Telerpeton, and I am disposed to 

 think that the little African reptile, which may be called Sauros- 

 ternon Bainii, was really allied to that famous Lacertian. 



At the International Exhibition held at Paris last year, Mr. 

 McKay, of British Kaffraria, exhibited a model of " East London 

 and the Harbour Works at the Mouth of the Buffalo River, British 

 Kaffraria, Cape of Good Hope," with some geological sections. The 

 latter are thus described : — 



"EXPLANATION OF GEOLOGICAL SECTIONS. (Figs. 1 & 2.)" 



" A. — Is a Permian formation, most probably of the age equivalent to the Magnesian 

 Limestone of England and Zeclistein of Germany. Its freshwater origin is in- 

 ferred from the total absence of Marine remains, particularly shells -and the 

 presence of multitudes of remains of reptiles capable of existing on land or 

 freshwater — together with the remains of land-plants in the erect position in 

 which they grew. 



D. — Is a wind-stratified Post-Tertiary formation which fringes the coast for a con- 

 siderable distance (it has been traced from the Kowie to N;ital). but does not 

 extent any distance inlnnd, generally under a mile. It is, in fact, nothing more 

 than consolidated sand hills, which, in some pLices, attain a height of 200 feet 

 and upwards. The hillocks of loose sand that skirt the coast at the present day 

 are identical in composition, stratification, and organic remains. 



E. — Is a stiff, reddish, yellow clay, with a considerable proportion of calcareous 

 matter ; pellets and nodular concretions of lime are dispersed throughout it. 

 It occupies all the depressions in the surface of A, and, in consequence, is very 

 irregular in thickness, ranging from 5 to 150 feet. No fossils have yet been 

 found in it. 



F. — A thin layer of ironstone gravel, containing rolled fragments of silicified wood, 

 agate, cornelian, chalcedony, etc. 



G. — A rich, dark, earthy clay, from 2 to 5 feet thick, with thin layers of existing 

 marine shells sparingly dispersed in it These marine remains have been found 

 at an elevation of 800 feet (" sic. in Mr, McKay's MS., at p. 204 he says 200 feet ") 

 above the present sea level, so that the land must have been quiescently sub- 

 merged to that depth within a very recent period. 



H. — This deposit owes its origin to an obstruction across the mouth of the river, 

 which has penned back the water and converted the estuary into a temporary lake, 

 about 20 feet above its present level— three distinct occurrences of this obstruction 



