PHYSICAL GEOGBAPUY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 



247 



are comparatively thin and form only a very subordinate part of the 

 group. 



The only fossils that I know of from the Molteno Beds are the 

 remains of land-plants ; ferns are said to be plentiful. Mr. Carruthers 

 has examined specimens from Dordrecht. " One," he says, " seems 

 to be a species of Danceojms, a second a Sphenopteris, and I know 

 not what fossil genus I could refer the third to. With these are 

 associated what appear to be fragments of a Monocotyledonous plant, 

 which are undeterminable " *. Mr. Dunn quotes Pecopteris, Odon- 

 topteris, Cydopteris cuneata, Tceniopteris Daintreei'f. I obtained 

 a few specimens from the neighbourhood of Molteno. These, Dr. 

 Williamson informs me, belong, with one doubtful exception, to the 

 genus Odontopteris, which, he adds, " is confined, so far as we know 

 at present, to the Carboniferous and Lower Permian (Lower New 

 lied Sandstone) beds." Fragments of silicified wood are extremely 

 abundant in some places ; a specimen from Dordrecht was deter- 

 mined by Mr. Carruthers to be coniferous %. Fossils sent to England 

 by Dr. G. Grey, described as from the north-eastern margin of the 

 Stormberg Range, have been determined as Lepidodendron, Sigil- 

 laria, Pecopteris, Alethoptoris, Aster ophyllites. It is very unfortunate 

 that the locality of these fossils is not more accurately defined. 



So far as I have been able to learn, the fossils of the Molteno 

 Beds have yet to be collected and described. 



It is probable that the Mammal Tritylodon longcevus^ described 

 by Sir E. Owen (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xl. 1884, p. 146), 

 came from Molteno Beds. 



It may be useful to summarize the main characters by which the 

 Ecca, Karoo, and Molteno Beds may be distinguished; they are 

 shown in the following table : — 



Sandy 

 Rocks. 



Clayey 

 Rocks. 



Ecca. 



Karoo. 



Molteno. 



Very quartzose, com- 

 pact, and bard. 

 Marked spheroidal 

 weathering in some. 



Much felspathic mat- 

 ter, finely grained, 

 not massive, as a 

 rule. Eeeble tend- 

 ency to spheroidal 

 weathering in some. 



Coarse quartzose grits 

 and conglomerates 

 common, often in 

 massive beds. 



Mudstones predomi- 

 nate ; shales rare. 



Shales, few mudstones ; 

 red, purple, and 

 mottled beds com- 

 mon. 



Shales, few mud- 

 stones, grey or 

 dark ; red beds rare. 







Sandstones thin com- 

 pared with the 

 shale bands. 



Shale bands for the 

 most part thin com- 

 pared with the sand- 

 stones. 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxvii. (1871), p. 525, 

 t Report on the Stormberg Coal-field (1878), p. 19. 

 t Loc. cit. 



