76 MR. R. B. NEWTON ON FOSSILS FROM MADAGASCAR. [Feb. 1 895, 



form the plate accompanying his pamphlet, but without names or 

 descriptions. These figures represent an echinoid and an ammonite, 

 both subsequently described and re-figured by the present writer 1 

 as Stomechinus (allied to) bigranidaris, Lamarck and Stephanoceras 

 Herveyi, Sowerby, respectively ; a Nerincea ; a BJiynchonetta ; a Tere- 

 bratula ; and two lamellibranch shells. This plate is of great interest, 

 for it contains the first published illustrations of a Jurassic fauna 

 from Madagascar, and I am indebted to the Rev. George Cousins 

 for calling my attention to it. The Rev. R. Baron 2 in 1885 recorded 

 the occurrence of an extinct form of Equisetum in a siliceous sinter- 

 deposit or geyserite which he found in one of the valleys close to 

 some extinct volcanic craters, near Ambohidratrimo (north of 

 Antananarivo). He also mentions the finding of numerous frag- 

 ments of fossil plants in an ironstone-and-shale deposit on the plain 

 of Ankay (Central Madagascar), one being recognized as Calojphyllum 

 parviflorum. Bojer (a dicotyledonous plant). 



In 1887 Cortese 3 referred to a lignite-deposit in the neighbourhood 

 of Amparihibe (Betsiboka river) which he regarded as of Pliocene 

 age, but the lignites of Nossi-Be and the neighbouring region he 4 

 identified as doubtfully of Permo-Carboniferous age in the succeeding 

 year. 



In j.889 I reported 5 upon a collection of fossils obtained by the 

 Rev. R. Baron from various localities in the north-west, and included 

 in it some references to a few specimens belonging to the Rev. Dr. 

 Deane, which were collected by the Rev. J. Richardson in the south. 

 Two of these latter specimens were figured, as previously mentioned, 

 in Mr. Richardson's plate published in 1877. An examination of 

 Messrs. Baron and Richardson's fossils confirmed the work of 

 previous observers as to the existence of Eocene and Jurassic rocks 

 in Madagascar, while a Cretaceous fauna was apparently identified 

 for the first time. 



The Eocene fossils consisted principally of foraminifera, referred to 

 Alveolina oblonga, Nummulites biarritzensis, Assilina spira, etc. 



The Cretaceous included such forms as Nautilus Fittoni, Belemnites 

 pistilliformis, B. conicus, B. polygonalis, B. binervius, Alectryonia 

 ungulata, A. peetinata, A. Deshayesi ?, Qryphcea vesicularis, etc. 



The Jurassic rocks were represented by Stephanoceras Herveyi, 

 Belemnites Sauvanausus, Nerita Buvignieri, Nerincea (allied to) 

 Eudesi^Pteropterna costatula, Modiola imbricata, Pholadomya ambigua, 

 Geromya concentrica, Astarte (?) Baroni (n. sp.), Sphcera madagas- 

 cariensis (n. sp.), Terebratula maxillata, Rhynchonella obsoleta, Stom- 

 echinus (allied to) bigranidaris, Isastrcea, etc. 



1 ' Notes on Fossils from Madagascar, with Descriptions of two New Species 

 of Jurassic Pelecypoda from that Island,' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xlv. 

 (1889) pp. 334, 338, pi. xiv. figs. 1, 2, 13-15. 



2 'Notes on the Geology of the Interior of Madagascar,' Antananarivo 

 Annual for 1885, no. ix. pp. 59-77. 



3 ' Osservazioni geognostiche sul Madagascar,' Boll. R. Comit. geol. Italia, 

 vol. xviii. (1887) p. 187. 



4 ' Appunti geologici sulP Isola di Madagascar,' op. cit. vol. xix. (1888) 

 pp. 113 & 123. 5 'E. B. Newton, op. jam cit. 



