XXI.—A Contribution to our Knowledge of the Vertebrates of the Karroo Beds of South Africa

Abstract

Since the early discoveries made by A. G. Bain a little over one hundred years ago, and which were described by Owen between 1844 and 1876, the South African Karroo beds have yielded a steady stream of new and interesting remains of Permian and Triassic amphibians and reptiles. Our fossil-bearing beds cover about 200,000 square miles. Some exposed areas are very rich, and others covered by soil and wind-blown dust are for all practical purposes quite barren. Still at any time there must be many hundreds of thousands of fossils lying exposed and waiting to be collected. Many do not last long, and weather to powder within a year if not collected; and new ones are always being exposed. In 1935, I sent Professor Camp of America to a farm where, in one day, he collected a hundred good skulls. I had been on this same farm only six months before and collected sixty skulls. One can go there every year and get a large collection. The large majority of skulls are duplicates—but new fossils may turn up at any time.