On some Secondary Fossils from South Africa

Abstract

I. I ntroduction As a large number of fossils from the Secondary rocks of South Africa remain undescribed in the Society's Museum, it seems desirable that an account of them should be submitted to the Society, as a sequel to the Monographs on Secondary Fossils from South Africa which have appeared in the Society's Transactions and Quarterly Journal. This paper contains descriptions of the Plants of the Karoo beds, the Reptilian and Molluscan life of which has been made known by the labours of Professors Owen and Huxley, and the late Mr. Daniel Sharpe—of the vegetable remains from the phytiferous beds of Geelhoutboom, and of the fossils from the Jurassic strata of the Zwartkop and Sunday's River (the last part being a Supplement to Mr. Daniel Sharpe's “Descriptions of Fossils from the Secondary Rocks of South Africa”). The study of the organic remains of the beds enumerated has enabled me to offer, in addition, some generalizations on the affinities of each of the above-mentioned groups of Secondary strata developed in this region. II. K aroo B eds a. Fossil Flora of the Karoo Beds . 1. G lossopteris B rowniana , Pl. VI. figs. 5 a , 5 b , 7 a , 7 b . The Society is in possession of several impressions of a Glossopteris , in a friable sandstone, obtained by Dr. W.G. Atherstone, F.G.S., from Heald Town, near Fort Beaufort, Eastern Province, South Africa,—and many others of the same form, in a dark shale, from Bloemkop*, collected by Mr. C. J. Powell, of Graaf Reinet, and presented by Dr. R. N. Rubidge,