A COLLECTION OF FOSSIL MAMMALS FROM THE 
COAST OF ZULULANU. 
BY 
WILLIAM B. SCOTT, 
Princeton University, U.S.A. 
Hitherto almost no remains of Tertiary mammals have been 
reported from South Africa, and therefore unusual interest attaches 
to a small collection of such remains gathered by Mr. Anderson on 
the coast of Zululand, and by him sent to the writer for determination. 
Concerning the position and mode of occurrence of these fossils 
Mr. Anderson writes as follows : " The fossils were scattered over a" 
" large flat outcrop of shales, which occurs below the level of ordinary " 
"low-water mark, and is only exposed under the exceptional circum- " 
"stances of a strong south-easterly gale and a neap tide, when the" 
" large covering of sand is removed. Overlying this bed are a series " 
"of shales with a few scattered bones and crustacean and fish" 
" remains. Above these a thin layer containing Foraminifera, and " 
" then a foot or so containing marine Mollusca, which Mr. Etheridge " 
" referred to the Tertiary period ; above this a thick series (probably " 
"over lOO feet) of false bedded sands of various colours covered by" 
" the Recent sand dunes." 
Though described as a shale in the foregoing account, the matrix 
still adhering to the bones appears rather to be a friable, unconsoli- 
dated, and somewhat granular mud, containing little clay and a very 
large quantity of fine sand, coloured dark brown by vegetable matter. 
The teeth appear to have been very completely mineralised by 
the substitution of silica for the orioinal materials ; on the other hand, 
o ^ 
the bones are much less completely changed, while both bones and 
teeth are heavy and very dark in colour. 
The list of species represented in the collection is short, not more 
than six or seven, but they appear all to be extinct, though all are 
referable to living genera, and most of them are nearly allied to exist- 
ing species. The type of fauna indicated by the list, short as it is. is 
characteristically South African ; in addition to more or less frag- 
mentary remains of fishes, turtles, and a very large crocodile, it 
includes a hippopotamus, buffalo, two antelopes, a rhinoceros, and an 
elephant. The species are thus all of hoofed animals, and no repre- 
sentatives of the Carnivora or Rodentia or of other small mammals are 
included. A strange lack is the absence of the horses, of which not a 
