The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-06
SOUTH AFRICAN FOSSILS.
Interesting discoveries Due to the
British-Roer War.


The war has indirectly led to an inter
esting scientific discovery in Cape Colony
Two members OF the Geological Sur
vey there, being driven away from their
work on the northern frontier went 10
study the Uitenhage beds on the lower part
of the Sunday River. which enters the sea
in Algoa Bay. These beds were known to
contain remains of reptiles, though little
had hitherto been found which could be
identified with precision. But on this oc-
casion the explorers were rewarded by dis
covering a number of fossil bones project
ing from the hillside. and evidently those
of a reptile. for the vertebrate. paddle and
jaws could be recognized Other bones
were subsequently exhumed. Thirty eight
vertebrae have been obtained, and both
the jaws. with their conical fiuted teeth,
those in front being the largest. with one,
at least, of the limbs, which in shape bears
some resemblance TO a paddle.
Professionally the skeleton is referred to
as the plesiosaurus. This reptile-wen
known TO European geologists-had a long
neck, its jaws were armed with formidable
teeth, and rough idea of its shape might
be given by comparing it to a plucked
swan, with paddles for limbs and a rather
short tail. Capable of moving quickly
through the water, and striking all about
II with its 1.-THE neck and powerful mouth.
it must have been no less a terror to the
fishes of the sea than its contemporary.
the ichthyosaurns, which, as its name i'm
plies, was more like fish in shape, had
yet more terrible jaws. and must have
rushed at its prey like shark These
scourges of the deep endured for long upon
the globe-they would not be easily exter-
minated. Fine specimens OF both have
been found in these Islands. in various
strata, especially in the Oxford clay, near
Peterborough, and in other parts CT the
Jurassic system. to which, indeed, these
Uitenhage beds are referred.
But If this South African creature be
a true plesiosaurus, it was either a pygmy
species or its career was cut short in
early youth; for it is stated to be only
four feet long. Now. in England, thct oh
at their first appearance in the Las they
are comparatively small-from eight to
ten feet long-they have been I.own
afterward TO reach forty feet But allied
genera have been identified, and now the
old genus plesiosaurus is often subdi-
vided, and that name restricted to the
representatives found In the Lias and yet
earlier part of the secondary deposits
That question, no doubt, viii be deter
mined when the remains can be carefully
studied, but the old genus has been iden-
Tined in Europe, Asia, and America. and
a not very remote relation has been I'M
earthed even in New Zealand.
South Africa has already supplIed geo
losists with reptilia even more interesting
than this, among them be ng a curious
creature Without teeth on the palate n,
two genera. formerly linked under the one
name Dieynodon from two great teeth
IKE cannes. one occurs in India. another
In South Africa, and representative has
also been found in sandstones near EIqin
In Scotland. But the most -e,,a rLaIIa
thing about these South African reptiles IL
that some of them present certain struc-
tural ressmblances to mammals One of
the most remarkable rejoices in the name
of Pareiasaurus Baini, and a evry perfect
speciment, obtained by Prof H. G. Seeley.
is now in the British MuseurS 1t was found
in the neighbcrhood of Tamboer Fontein.
Cape Colony, at the foot OF the Nieuwveldt
range. AS the professor states, il can be
compared with the known groups of rep
tiles, recent and FOSSIL as well as with the
mammals; for there is much TO recall the
latter in the characters of the pelvis. the
shoulder girdle and the fore and hind
limbs. In other respects It is even more
like reptile. Still, the general outline OF
the skeleton is curiously suggestive OF some
heavily built, clumsy mammal
Africa is indeed a land OF geological as
weii as OF other wonders. and with good
luck the pedigree of the mammals NAV We, |
be traced to the point where they 5rsnchea |
OIL from a parent stem, possibly reptilian. |
Inc southern part of the continent has |
above the sea during later sec. |
ondary and tertiary times so IL NAV have
peen one OF ths nurseries in which the
larger mammals were developed TO take
In due course. the place OF the great rep
tiles.