The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-06
SOUTH AFRICAN FOSSILS.
Interesting Discoveries Due to the
British-ROer War.
From the London s'andard)


The war has Indirectly led TO an inter
esting scientific discovery in Cape Colony
Two members Of the Geological Sur
yey there. being driven away from their
work on the northern frontier went to
study the Uitenhage beds on the lower part
Of the Sunday River which enters the sea
in Alsoa 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
vertebrate have been obtained and both
the jaws. with their conical futed teeth
those 10 front being the largest. with one
al 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 a rough idea Of its shape might
be given by comparing il TO a plucked
swan, with paddles for limbs and rather
short tail Capable OF moving quickly
through he water and striking all about
II.
ID must have been no less terror to the
fishes Of the sea than its contemporary,
the ichthvosaurps which as its name i'm
plies was more like a fish in shape had
yet more terrible jaws. and must have
rushed al its prey like a shark. These
scourges Of the deep endured for long upon
the globe-they would not be easily eNter-
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 Of the
Jurassic system, 20 which indeed, these
Uitenhage beds are referred
But il this South African creature be
a true plesiosaurus. il 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, though
at their first appearance in the Las they
are comparatively small-from eight to
ten feet long-they have been laowu
afterward 10 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 Idas and yet
earlier part OF the secondary deposits.
That question, no doubt, will be deter
mined when the remains can be carefully
studied, but the old genus has been iden-
lifted 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 or
two genera. formerly linked under the one
name Dicynodon (from two great teeth
like canines). one occurs in India. another
in South Africa, and a representative has
also been found in sanistones near ElRiD
IN Scotland. But the most remarkable
thing about these South African reptiles is
that some Of them present certain struc-
tural resemblance 70 mammals One of
the most remarkable rejoices in the name
Of Pareiasaurus Bsini, and a evry perfect
speciment obtained by Prof H. G. Seeley,
is now in the British Museums Il was found
in the neighborhood 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 Rirdle and the fore aud hind
limbs. Ii other respects It is even more
ike a reptile. sun, the general outline OF
the skeleton is curiously suggestive OF some
heavily built. clumsy mammal.
Atrlea is indeed a land OF geological as
wei as OF other wonders and with good
luck the pedigree Of the mammals may yet
be Traced 70 the point where they branched
on from parent stem. possibly reptilian
The southern part Of the continent has
remained above the sea during later Sec
ondary and tertiary times. so Il may have
been one OF the nurseries in which the
larger mammals were developed TO take
IN due course, the place OF the great rep
tiles.