The Panchet group (t.soo ft.) is of restricted development and is overlapped by the Kamthi division (3,000-8.000 ft.), whilst the Maleri is of variable thickness and occurs but locally. In the Panchet group vertebrate remains include fishes, Labyrinthodonts (Stegocephala), Amphibia (Glyptomathus, etc.) and reptiles ( Dicynodon, etc.), whilst the Kamthi group contains similar forms as well as a flora with Glossopteris, Gangamopteris, Phyl lotheca, etc. The clayey Maleri group has remains of fishes Ceratodus ?. Labyrinthodonts (Gondu'anosaurus) and reptiles (Hyperodapedon, etc.). Biologically the fauna agrees closely with the English Trias.
In South Africa the Triassic deposits are continental and form the greater part of the Karroo Beds covering much of what is now the Union. They occur also in south-west Africa, along the borders of the Kalahari, over parts of Rhodesia, Portuguese Africa and regions farther north.
In the Cape Province, the Permian Ecca Beds are followed by the Beaufort and Stormberg Series, the former divided into Lower, Middle and Upper Beds, the latter into Molteno Beds, Red Beds, Cave Sandstone and Drakenberg Volcanics. In central Transvaal the Beaufort Series is absent and the Stormberg Series is represented by Bushveld Marls, Sandstone and Amygdaloids. The Lower Beaufort Beds, with their reptilian remains (Paria saurus, Dicynodonts, etc.), are consideerd by du Toit to be Upper Permian and the Volcanics to cover the period from Rhaetic to Lias ; the Middle Beaufort are Lower Triassic and the remainder (Upper Beaufort–Cave Sandstone) Upper Triassic.
The Beaufort beds of the Cape are divided by lithological characters agreeing with fossil vertebrate zones. The Middle group consists of mudstones ,and sandstones, whilst the Upper group has more of the bright coloured mudstones. They con tain reptiles (Erythrosuchus, Cynognathus, etc.) and Amphibians (Trematosaurus, etc.). Plants include Schizoneura, and, at the top, Thinnfeldia, Ginkgoites, etc. Rhodesian representatives are the Upper Wankie Sandstone (with fresh-water beds, Glossopteris, and reptiles) and the Madumabisa Shales.
The Stormberg Series occurs in Basutoland and neighbouring parts of the Union. The Molteno Beds, which disappear north wards, contain silicified trunks of Dadoxylon and plant remains (Thinnfeldia, Ginkgoites, Schizoneura, etc.). The Red Beds thin northwards, becoming the Bushveld Marls, represented on Rho desia by Escarpment Grits. Next comes the massive Cave Sand stone, with false-bedding primarily of aeolian origin. Its counter
parts are Bushveld Sandstone (Central Transvaal) and the Forest Sandstone (Rhodesia).
The Drakenberg Volcanics are basaltic lavas with, in places, agglomerates and ashes or beds of sandstone near the base. At Mont-aux-Sources, Natal, they are 4,50o ft. thick. North of Pretoria (Springbok Flats) they become amygdaloidal basalts, whilst in the Wankie-Zambezi area (Rhodesia) the Batoka Basalts form the picturesque scenery about Victoria Falls. Intrusive into the Karroo system is a phenomenal number of sills and dikes of dolerite.
Beaufort beds have been detected on the west coast of Mada gascar overlying coal-bearing beds with Glossopteris.
In New South Wales Triassic strata of the Sydney-Blue Moun tain area follow the Permian nearly conformably. The district was above sea and extended farther east than at present, the deposits being formed in shallow fresh water lakes. The Hawkes bury Series is divided into Narrabeen, Hawkesbury Sandstone and Wianamatta Stages in upward sequence. The Narrowbeen beds thin westwards from the coast, becoming also coarser. Estheria coghlani is common at one horizon; Schizoneura is abundant; Glossopteris is rare.
Hawkesbury Sandstones are strikingly represented near Port Jackson and in the canyons and ravines of the Blue Mountains. They contain plants (Thinnfeldia, Phyllotheca), fish (Ceratodus and shark) and Labyrinthodonts (Mastodonsaurus, Platyceps). The Wianamatta beds are largely clay shales with ferns (Thinn feldia, Alethopteris australis), Ginkgoales, Cycadaceae, Equise taceae, fish (Palaeoniscus, etc.), a few molluscs and crustacea.
Of slightly later date (Trias-Jura) are the Clarence Series of New South Wales and the Artesian Series of the New England Tableland. They seem to be equivalent to the Ipswich and Bur rum Beds of Queensland and the Gippsland and Otway Beds of Victoria. In Tasmania the Knockfofty Series and the overlying Ida Bay Series, near Hobart, possibly represent the Hawkesbury Series.
Trias forms the lower division of the Hokonui System in New Zealand and consists of sandstones, shales and conglomerates of estuarine and fluviatile origin (with plant-remains from a conti nental region to the north-west in the present Tasman sea) inter calated with marine beds containing characteristic species of the Alpine Trias of south Europe and India. The Noric, Karnic and part of the Ladinic stages are represented.