Geological Society. 305 



character might be referred to a period when the country was heaved 

 up from below the sea, if such ever took place; but this explanation 

 would not account for the broad flat valleys margined by scarped 

 mountains. 



The author notices successively the extensive occurrence of co- 

 lumnar basalt, and instances numerous localities of basaltic pave-* 

 ments of pentangular slabs ; being, in fact, the terminal planes of 

 basaltic columns. He also notices singular insulated heaps of rocks 

 and stones, the loose parts of which manifest a disposition to geo- 

 metrical forms. He witnessed repeated occurrences of nodular ba- 

 salt, or basalt en boules\ of stupendous escarpments; of dykes of 

 great length, in some instances crossing each other; of strata of 

 ferruginous clay under compact basalt, which, in different localities, 

 pass from friable to jaspery ; the occurrence of pulverulent [carbonate 

 of ?] lime in seams ; and minute nodular limestone on the surface and 

 in the banks of rivers. Crystallized [carbonate ot ?] lime was noticed 

 as an imbedded mineral only. He observed numerous veins of quartz 

 and chalcedony traversing the basaltic strata, and supplying the major 

 part of the siliceous minerals abundantly strewn over the country, 

 such as, agates, jaspers, hornstones, heliotrope, semiopal, stilbite, 

 heulandite, mesotype, ichthyophthalmite, pseudomorphous quartz, 

 ike. &c. ; and he mentions the occurrence of muriate and carbonate 

 of soda, of the ores of iron which are worked into the celebrated 

 wootz steel, and of thermal springs. The author did not observe any 

 conformation of the mountains resembling the craters of extinct vol- 

 canoes, nor did he find organic remains of any kind. 



The paper concludes with some general observations (limiting their 

 application to the 25th degree of north latitude) on the amazing extent 

 of the trap, laterite, nodular limestone, granite and gneiss formations 

 in the peninsula of India. From the geological papers of Capt. Dan- 

 gertield,Capt.Coulthard, Major Franklin, Dr.Voysey, and Mr. Calder, 

 the continuous trap region would appear to occupy an area of from 

 200,000 to 250,000 square miles ; and from the observations of 

 the Rev. Mr. Everest, Mr. Royle, Mr. Babington, Mr. Calder, and 

 Dr. Voysey, it may ultimately be found that the ramifications extend 

 easrward to the Rajmahl trap-hills on the Ganges, and southward 

 through Mysore to the extremity of the peninsula. With respect to 

 the age of this formation, Major Franklin states, that in Bundelkhund 

 it rests on a sandstone which he considers identical with the new red 

 sandstone of Europe : the trap would therefore be posterior to the 

 carboniferous series, and belong to the supermedial order. But the 

 Rev. Mr. Everest adduces valid reasons for questioning the correct- 

 ness of Major Franklin's opinion, and it would consequently be idle 

 to speculate on an a?ra without sufficient data to assist in determining 

 the question. The author suggests the manner of the formation of 

 the horizontal beds of basalt and amygdaloids, with their parallel, 

 superior, and inferior planes and vertical edges, as a subject of curious 

 and interesting speculation. 



From the observations of Mr. Calder, the Rev. Mr. Everest, Mr. 

 Stirling, Dr. Davy, and the author, the laterite formation is found to 

 Third Series. Vol. 2. No. 10. April 183:3. 2 R 



