266 A. E. Ortmann — Climatic zones in Jurassic times. 



Middle-European features, thus indicating a similar (temperate) 

 zone on the southern hemisphere. But he himself gives 

 different opinions concerning these localities : once (1890, p. 

 330) he says, that the so-called Uitenhaage-formation, near Port 

 Elizabeth, Cape Colony, has a fauna of Middle-European 

 " habitus," and again (p. 333) he says, that the same formation 

 has relation neither to the tropical African localities nor to 

 those in Europe, while relations to ' some localities in East 

 India (!) and South America (in the Andes of Chili) are appar- 

 ent. All we know of the latter locality * is that there are 

 present species of Phylloceras, Lytoceras, and Simoceras, thus 

 showing a more likely relation to the Mediterranean than to 

 the Middle-European Jura, as supposed by Neumayr. At 

 present, indeed, we may better disregard all these localities, as 

 our knowledge of them is very incomplete. 



Further, Keumayr himself concedes the Middle-European 

 character of the Jurassic deposits of the Hermon, Syria. 

 This occurrence, so absolutely opposed to his theory of climatic 

 zones, he tries to explain in a very forced manner, supposing 

 arbitrarily a southern local extension of the Middle-European 

 Jura into the equatorial zone. We may add here that the 

 Jura of Cutch, India, is regarded by Waagen as Middle- 

 European, while Neumayr claims it as Mediterranean. 



In this respect a recent paper of Tornquist, f treating a 

 Jurassic locality on the eastern coast of Africa, near the equa- 

 tor, is very interesting. Tornquist says (p. 23): "As far as we 

 know the fauna of Mtaru, it must be regarded surely as being 

 of Middle-European character." Thus we would have there, 

 near the equator, a Jurassic fauna, which, according to 

 jNeumayr, can only be found in much higher geographical 

 latitude. As the fauna of Mombassa, situated in the neigh- 

 borhood of Mtaru, shows relations to the East Indian locali- 

 ties, which are according to Neumayr Mediterranean, we have 

 there, on the eastern coast of Africa, Jurassic deposits of 

 either character closely approaching. Further, if we consider 

 that Tornquist makes mention (p. 7, p. 25) of a peculiar facies 

 of the strata of Mtaru, suggestive of the so called "terrain a 

 chailles" in Middle-Europe (limestone-concretions in marl- 

 deposits), we are again led to the opinion that differences of 

 the facies take part in making up the faunistis differences.^: 



* See Gottsche, Ueber jurassische Versteinerungen aus der argentinischen Cor- 

 dillere. — Palaeontographica. Suppl. III. 1878. 



f Fragmente einer Oxfordfauna von Mtaru. — Jahrb. Hamburg, Wiss. Anst. X. 

 2, 1893. 



\ We may quote here the following interesting remark of Tornquist (p. 25) : 

 "It seems that there is repeated the fact which is known iu the Jura of the dif- 

 ferent countries and which is always equally astonishing, namely, that even over 

 great distances a fauaistic agreement of the different zones of the Jura can be 

 accompanied by a lithological one.'.' 



