56-2 MR R. HULLEN NEWTON ON SOME CRETACEOUS BRACHIOPODA 



Cretaceous mollusca (Cephalopoda) from Angola, consisting of Schloenbachia inflata, 

 J. Sowerby, Desmoceras cuvervillei, Stan. Meun., Hamites virgulatus, Brongniart, 

 and //. tropicalis, Stan. Meun. These specimens, obtained from the limestones of 

 Lobito Bay, north of Benguella, were considered to be of Albian age, the forms of 

 S. inflata being regarded as identical with a variety of that species which had been 

 figured by Szajnocha * from the Elobi Islands, situated off the north-west territory 

 of the French Congo. 



From an examination of the mollusca and other organisms, Choffat divided 

 the Cretaceous rocks of Angola into : — Albian (beds with Pholadomya pleuromyee- 

 formis) ; Vraconnian (beds with Schloenbachia inflata) ; Cenomanian-Turonian 

 (beds with Cyprina invensi, Actseonella, Nerinea) ; and Senonian (beds with 

 Ostrea olisiponensis, Roudaireia forbesi, Ostrea baylei, Cardita barroneti, and 

 Lioceramus langi). 



In the light of these researches, and from a study of the present fossils, it is 

 recognised that the fauna here described belongs to the Vraconnian stage of the 

 Cretaceous series, which includes the zone of Schloenbachia inflata. Strong con- 

 firmation of this horizon is offered by the Cephalopod remains forming part of the 

 collection, and which are in course of description by Mr G. C. Crick, as there are 

 certain Ammonites showing close relationships with Schloenbachia infl,ata. Whether 

 the zone should be regarded as the lowest Cenomanian or latest Albian need not now 

 be discussed, it being sufficient for the purposes of this paper to acknowledge that it 

 belongs to Renevier's Vraconnian stage as adopted by Choffat, and so representing 

 an intermediate or passage series of beds between the Albian and Cenomanian. 



The Angola fauna undoubtedly bears the European facies, being, besides, related 

 in its details to that characterising North African regions, a few of the species 

 occurring as well in Syria, Socotra, and Zululand. It is connected, likewise, with the 

 southern Indian Cretaceous series on account of the presence there, at the base of 

 the Utatur group, of Schloenbachia inflata. Further, a resemblance may be noted 

 with the fauna of the Sergipe beds of Brazil described by C. A. White, t and which 

 has already been pointed out by Dr F. Kossmat,| who, on account particularly of 

 the presence of Ammonites of the group S. inflata, regarded those deposits as of 

 Cenomanian age. Certain specimens of the present collection help, also, to confirm 

 the existence of a Brazilian facies in the Angola fauna, among which may be 

 mentioned : — Neithea sequicostata, N. tricostata, Trigonia crenulata, Tylostoma 

 globosum, and Akera gregoryi. The distribution of the species referred to in this 

 paper is set out in the following table : — 



* "Zur Kenntniss der mittelcretacischen Cephalopodenfauna der Insel Elobi an der Westkiiste Afrika's," 

 Denkschr. k. Alcad. Wins. [Wien], 1884-1885, vol. xlix, p. 231, with 4 plates. 



t " Contributions to the Paleontology of Brazil," Archiv Mas. Nation. Brazil, 1888, vol. vii. 



X " On the Importance of the Cretaceous Rocks of Southern India, etc.," Records Geol. Surv. India, 1895, 

 vol. xxviii, p. 45. [ = English translation of memoir issued in the Jahrb. k.lc. Geol. Eeichs., 1894, vol. xliv.] 



