In that part of Central Africa lying to the west and south of Lake Nyasa various ancient peneplains have long been known (in (9)), but there has hitherto been available but little evidence whereby their relations to each other and to other more distant peneplains could be established. West and north-west of the lake, for example, there is the “4,000—foot” plateau, out of which rises the 7,000–8,000 ft. plateau of the Nyika and neighbouring highlands (see Fig. 1; also physical map in in (9)); and south of the lake, in Southern Nyasaland, the Kirk Mountains plateau (5,000 feet) overlooks the Shire Rift Valley from the west, whereas on the eastern side the eastward tilted Shire Highlands plateau is surmounted by the Zomba plateau (6,000 feet) and the Mlanje plateau (7,000 feet); the summit levels of the Mlanje Mountains, at 9,000–10,000 feet, probably indicate another ancient surface.

The object of this article is to bring up to date the known history of the earth's crust in the south-east Levant.

The fossiliferous rock now reported upon has been submitted to me by Mr. E. S. Willbourn, Director of the Geological Survey of the Federated Malay States, in the hope that examination of the fossils might lead to some definite conclusion as to the age of the coal-bearing strata with which it is associated. The locality is Durian Chondong, Kepong, in the Unfederated Malay State of Johore, and the material examined comprises a number of bore samples obtained from depths varying from 88 feet to 145 feet. These all consist of a grey marly shale containing numerous fossil shells, mainly more or less crushed, but sometimes well preservedand even retaining traces of their colour-ornamentation. The only other fossils obtained from the samples, beyond a few obscure plant impressions, are some small and indeterminate fish teeth.

Following the original suggestion of Searles Wood, the Norwich Brickearth has been referred to the same phase of glaciation as the Basement clay of Holderness, which in turn has been correlated with the Scandinavian Drift of Durham. Recent work by Stather (1929) and by Bisat (1932, 1935) shows, however, that the Basement clay of previous authors (Wood, Lamplugh, Reid, and others) may be resolved into a drift (a) of Scandinavianorigin, together with (b) deposits of separate derivation; and the time now seems appropriate for a critical examination of the position of the Norwich Brickearth in the glacial sequence.

The forces which produced the folds of the Alps, and caused waves of compression to be transmitted as far as the Weald, may have been sufficiently powerful to start a drift displacement of Europe towards the north-east. As there does not appear to have been any similar compression in North America, a north-easterly movement of Europe would have caused shear in the strong continental layers which are considered to have connected the two continents. Tensile stresses would probably have arisen in these layers, unless the layers had begun to thin out before the state of tension was reached. There would have been a limit to the extent to which thinning could have proceeded, since a certain thickness of rock would have been needed to produce the necessary stress-differences. This thinning out process may have come into operation, except in a number of kilometres immediately below the surface, where tensile stresses may have arisen as drift continued. Under these circumstances the uppermost part of the crust would have sagged upon the thinning region, nd been broken up by a system of tension fractures.

Mr. Brydone's letter in the GeologicalMagazine (1936, p. 329) provides an opportunity to make some postscript remarks on this subject. In addition I have received letters from Mr. H. J. Osborne White and Mr. F. W. Shotton, containing stimulating criticism and suggestions, and I am grateful to them forallowing me to quote from what they wrote.

During the last two or three years we have been mapping and working out the geological structure of the small islands in the eastern part of the Bristol Channel. Visits to these can only be made periodically, and our work is thus likely to extend over some considerable time. We consider it desirable, in fairness to other workers and to those interested in the Lower Carboniferous rocks, to publish the main facts as far as we have established them, leaving details and any discussion until the work is completed.