Vol. 59.] SEDIMENTARY DEPOSITS OF SOUTHERN KHODES1A. 281 



Learning caution from previous disappointments in trying to 

 chisel out other fossils, I decided to secure the slab as it stood, and 

 place it in the hands of the palaeontologists of the British Museum 

 (Natural History). It was accordingly conveyed to Bulawayo by 

 Scotch cart and brought home. The fish-remains have since been 

 examined by Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.ll.S., and his description 

 forms the first Appendix to this paper (p. 285). 



The coal-seams which crop out at the Horseshoe Cliff, on weather- 

 ing, expose prostrate and flattened trees, a specimen exhibited at the 

 reading of this paper being portion of a trunk over 12 inches long. 

 Its outer coating is yellowish and soft ; but this is due to weathering, 

 as the interior is dull black and compact, and shows lines of growth. 

 Fragments of such silicified trees are numerous along portions of 

 the Matobola Plains, where the decay of the upper beds has left the 

 fossils strewn on the surface. 



At Sisi Siding, on the railway to Capetown, a well had been sunk 

 through the soft shales referred to on p. 272, and faint impressions 

 of Glossopteris were found in these in March 1900. 



In the Tuli Coalfield, in a bed of shale lying between coal-seams, 

 an impression of a calamite was obtained. 



The mollusca and plants are described in Appendices II & III 

 (pp. 287, 288), the latter by Mr.E. A. Newell Arber, M.A., F.G.S., 

 and the former by Dr. Wheelton Hind, F.R.C.S., F.G.S., to whom, 

 and also to Dr. Smith Woodward for his description of the fishes, I 

 am under a deep and grateful obligation. 



V. The Coal-Deposits. 



The carbonaceous shales and clays that are associated with seams 

 of coal crop out over a very large area, commencing near the junction 

 of the Bume (Omay) and the Zambesi Rivers to the north-east, and 

 continuing in broken order as far as the Wankie Coalfield to the 

 west. The area of these exposed beds covers over 1600 square 

 miles, but it is not claimed that coal in workable seams exists to the 

 same extent. In the Mafungabusi district the beds lie horizontally, 

 and thus may mask a great thickness of coal-bearing strata which 

 only deep boring could prove. There are, however, outcrops of small 

 seams, and there are sufficient reasons for their being designated as the 

 Mafungabusi Coalfield and Sesami Coalfield respectively. 



During past years a limited amount of prospecting took place in 

 these tracts, but, so far as can be ascertained, with little success. 

 The Sesami Coalfield lies in a corner of the exposed portion of 

 the Upper Matobola Beds, here 400 feet thick, and the seams are 

 of poor quality. 



Farther west is the long and extensive Seng we Coalfield, 

 where, owing to an upheaval of the strata, the lower series of Matobola 

 Beds, containing seams of coal of good quality, are revealed. 

 Extensive development has been accomplished here, and so far an 

 area of 8000 acres has been found to contain a main seam of an 

 average width of 5 feet, besides others of great thickness. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 234. u 



