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Geological Society. '^ 50Ji 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Jlpril 18, 1828.— -A paper was read On a collection of Vegetable and 

 Animal Remains, ^mid Rocks, from the Burm^sp Country, presented to 

 th^ Geological So^pety by J. Crawfurd, Esq.: by the Rev. W. Buck- P^ 

 l^d, D.D., V.P.G.S., F.R^, &c. 



Mi* Crawfurd collected these specimens during his voyage up the Ira- 

 ^ y^di in a^am-boat, on an embassy to Ava, ia the latter partqf ttie ye'*r ^ 



f826. The authour considers them to be of high importance, as afford- ^ 



ing an answer to the curious, and till now undecided question, whether '^^ 

 |5^ there be, or be not, in the southern regions oOisia, any rfoiams of fossil Wf 

 quadrupeds analogous to those which are found'so widely dispersed in the*^ ^. ,^ 

 diluvium of northern Asia, and^ oLEurope and America. ^ 



. ; The evidence which Mr. Crawfurd has imported, consists of several -^ 

 chests full q& fossil wood and fos^bones, and^of specimens of the strata 

 that are found along the course of the Irawadi, from Prome up to Ava, 

 being a distance of nearly^;500 miles. The greater part of the fossil 

 wood is beautifully silicified ; other specimens of \i are calcareous ; t!fey ,^ 

 are mostly portions of large trees, both monocotyledonous and dicotyle- 

 d^ious, and were found along the, whole valley of the Irawadi from Ava " '^jj^ 

 rome. The bones were all collected from a small district near some ** 



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wells of petroleum, about half way be^eenldiese towns, and on the 1^ 

 bank of the river. From Mr. Cliffs examination, it appears, ^at §1-^ 

 though v^e have among them no remains of foss^ elephants, we have me 

 same fossil Pachydcrmata that are found associated with elephants in Eu- 

 rope, namely. Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Mastodon,' and Hog. We have 

 also t^o or three species of Ruminantia resembhng the Ox, Antelope, and 

 Deer, with the addition of the Gavial and Alligator, and two fresh- water 

 tortoises, namely, Trionyx and Emys. 



The teeth of the Mastodon belong to two unknown species of that ge- 

 nus, both of them approaching in size to the largest elephant. Mr. Clift 

 has designated them by the names of Mastodon latidens and M. elephan- , 

 toides. The teeth are from animals of all ages ; and there are many 

 fragments of ivory^^yierived probably also from the Mastodon. 



1'he remains of the Mastodon are by far the most abundant in this col- 

 lection, and amount to about 150 fragments. 



Of the Rhinoceros there are about 10 fragments. 



