32fi THE ZOOLOGIST. 



of the locality, and the help of map and compass, we had great 

 difficulty in placing ourselves on the spot indicated on the map 

 as No. 49. The whole country is so closely furrowed with 

 ravines, into and out of which it is necessary to scramble con- 

 stantly in order to make any progress, that it is almost impossible 

 at times to maintain a fixed direction, and very difficult to 

 identify quickly any of the minor features in the map with the 

 locality. 



The great feature, however, which there is no mistaking, and 

 which was of chief importance to us, is the dull red band of fer- 

 ruginous conglomerate that surrounds the oil-field, and in which 

 Dr. Noetling found his flint chips. This bed is called by Dr. 

 Noetling the zone of Hippotherium antelopinum, and is thus 

 described by him on p. 87 of the ' Memoirs,' vol. xxvii. part 2 : — 

 " This zone forms a well-marked horizon in the sequence of the 

 strata, and crops out in the shape of an elongated ellipse, the 

 long axis of which measures two and quarter miles, while the 

 short (transverse) axis amounts to slightly over a mile only." 



In fact, the beds here, including this zone, have been raised 

 from their original horizontal position by pressure on all sides 

 into a long turtle-back dome, and then the crown of the dome 

 has been shaved off, leaving their edges exposed all around the 

 area of it. 



The theory of Dr. Noetling is that the chipped flints belong 

 to the zone of Hippotherium antelopinum, and to nowhere else, 

 and that in this zone they are " not rare."* The remains found 

 in this zone indicating a Pliocene, and perhaps even a Miocene 

 age, it follows, if the above theory is correct, either that a con- 

 siderable Pliocene population existed who made the chips, or 

 else that these are natural pieces, and not the work of man. This 

 alternative has probably induced many to reject the former as 

 improbable, and, against their better judgment, to hold that the 

 chips are natural. 



But what becomes of the theory if they can be picked up, as 

 Mr. Oldham says, on the plateau anywhere, quite apart from the 

 zone of Hippotherium antelopinum ? And what if, when picked 

 up by scores, as they can be, some two hundred feet above the 

 said zone, they can in some instances be fitted together again, 



:;: ' Records,' vol. xxvii. 1894, part 3, p. 20. 



