Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . Fig. 155. Texanites soutoni soutoni (Baily, 1855). SAS-Z306. A dwarfed specimen from theenvirons of Umkwelane Hill, x 0,66. 204 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM umzambiense seems to illustrate the point (Fig. 161). As far as can be ascertained, there seems to be no direct relationshipbetween complexity of suture line and ornament. Discussion Despite being one of the first ammonites to be described from the Cre-taceous deposits at the Umzamba Estuary, this species has been consistentlymisinterpreted. Both Spath (1922
Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . Fig. 155. Texanites soutoni soutoni (Baily, 1855). SAS-Z306. A dwarfed specimen from theenvirons of Umkwelane Hill, x 0,66. 204 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM umzambiense seems to illustrate the point (Fig. 161). As far as can be ascertained, there seems to be no direct relationshipbetween complexity of suture line and ornament. Discussion Despite being one of the first ammonites to be described from the Cre-taceous deposits at the Umzamba Estuary, this species has been consistentlymisinterpreted. Both Spath (1922: 136) and Van Hoepen (1921: 38-45) com-mented on the extreme variation of T. soutoni in their collections. Whereas. Fig. 156. ? Texanites soutoni soutoni (Baily, 1855). SAM-PCZ5903,Die Rooiwalle, Zululand. x 0,68. from CRETACEOUS FAUNAS FROM SOUTH AFRICA 205 Spath concentrated mainly on density and character of ribbing (presence orabsence of bifurcations) and to a lesser extent on the tightness of coiling, VanHoepen paid close attention to the configuration of the suture lines and cameto the conclusion that, in some cases at least, the comparative significance ofthe suture line at more or less the same age is fiction. Apart from these twoauthors, little substantial research has been done on this species. The largest known collections of T. soutoni are housed in the collectionsof the British Museum (Natural History), the South African Museum, Geo-logical Survey of South Africa (Pretoria), and the Transvaal Museum. Exami-nation of these collections, virtually all from the Umzamba Estuary, shows thathardly two specimens are alike. The sediments at Umzamba represent a con-densed sequence (KHnger &
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booki, booksubjectnaturalhistory
