Abstract
LONDON. Geological Society, June 25.—Dr. Aubrey Strahan, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Dr. F. Oswald: The Miocene beds of the Victoria Nyanza and the geology of the country between the lake and the Kisii highlands; with appendices on the vertebrate remains, by Dr. C. W. Andrews; on the non-marine Mollusca, by R. B. Newton; and on the plant-remains, by Miss N. Bancroft. The Miocene beds of the eastern coast of the Victoria Nyanza, south-east of Karungu, form a narrow zone (covered with black earth) at the foot of cliffs of overlying nepheline-basalt, and are only exposed in a few gullies. The whole series is conformable, dipping 8° north by west, i (Beds 1–12). An upper group (about 70 ft. thick) of grey and brown clays and shales, with occasional current-bedded sandstones containing terrestrial shells (Tropidophora, Cerastus), as also calcified tree-stems in the uppermost bed. 2 (Beds 13–25). A middle group (about 30 ft. thick) of red and grey clays, with white sandstones in the lower half. No bone-bed, but fragmentary Chelonian and crocodilian remains occur sparsely throughout the series. Persistent horizons are a travertinous marlstone (No. 14) containing Ampullaria and Lanistes; a thin sandstone (No. 16) yielding Hyracoid jawbones; and a gravel (No. 24) yielding teeth of Dinotherium, Protopterus, crocodile, &c. 3 (Beds 26–37). A lower group (about 35 ft. thick) of current-bedded sandstones and gravels passing down into clays and marlstones. A conglomerate of calcareous nodules overlies gravelly sandstones (No. 31) containing isolated bones of Dinotherium, Anthraco-theroids, rhinoceros, giant tortoises, &c., indicating a Lower Miocene (Burdigalian) age, with Ampullaria, Cleopatra, and terrestrial shells (Cerastus). The vertebrate remains described by Dr. C. W. Andrews include Proboscidea, Hyracoida, Artiodactyla, Rodentia, and Reptilia, and fully support the suggested occurrence of Lower Miocene deposits on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. A deposit of probably Pliocene age yielded a new (?) species of Elephas, also bones of antelopes and baboons. The non-marine Mollusca associated with the Miocene vertebrates are freshwater and terrestrial shells which all belong to existing species.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 91, 653–654 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/091653a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/091653a0