Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 27.djvu/151

 greater length and under separate heads. He was not surprised at the finding of plants of Carboniferous genera in the Dicynodon-beds which appeared to be of Triassic age, inasmuch as the same was the case to some extent in our own later beds of Oolitic date. He agreed in the view of the probability of a vast continent having formerly existed in the southern part of the world, and considered that the denudation of Southern Africa had been so great that it was no wonder the boundaries of the old freshwater lakes were no longer easy to find. It was also by no means surprising to him that a recurrence of glacial phenomena should be found in Southern Africa, as it had been in Europe. He did not, however, think it necessary to call in the action of ice for the excavation of valleys such as some of those described, as rain and running water appeared to him sufficiently powerful for the purpose. At the same time he would not deny the possibility of ice having been the agent in these cases.

Mr. R. Tate had seen evidence of similar effects being produced by aqueous force to those resulting from glacial action, and cited instances of moraine-like deposits having been formed by running streams in Central and Southern America.

Mr. H. "Woodward suggested that it would be desirable to wait for further particulars of the sections before assuming the actual association of the Lepidodendron and other plants. He added that the Stigmaria lately said to have been obtained from the Kimmeridge Clay had really come originally from Newcastle.

Prof. T. Rupert Jones remarked that Mr. Stow, like other South- African geologists, had had ample experience of the effects of violent rain. With regard to the mixture of Palaeozoic plants (such as the Lepidodendron &c. sent by Dr. Grey) with Palaeozamia and Pecopteris, he thought it somewhat analogous to the mixture of palaeozoic and mesozoic fossils in Australia.

3. On the Geology of Natal, in Soxjtu Africa. By Charles Ludolf Griesbach, Esq., Corr. Member of the K. K. geologischen Reichsanstalt, and of the K. K. geographischen Gesellschaft, Vienna. (Communicated by Henry Woodward, Esq., F.G.S.)

[Plates II. & III.]

I. Geography of the country : Watersheds.

The colony of Natal presents the appearance of a series of terraces ; the first terrace begins to rise about thirteen to twenty miles from the coast, and forms a hilly country, about 1000 feet above the level of the sea. It forms plateaux in abrupt rising steps until it reaches the height of about 2300 feet, after which the country sinks gradually again to the level of Pietermaritzburg (2080 feet above the sea) ; but