151 



tortoise the Golossoclielys Atlas,'^ whose carapace reached 

 the enormous length of twenty feet, and which, with the 

 head and tail included, could not have been much less 

 than thirty feet long ! There are also several forms of 

 fresh- water tortoises. Of the Crocodilidce the most com- 

 mon are the Leptorynchtis, resembling the Gavial or bottle- 

 nosed crocodile of the Ganges, and a broad-snouted 

 species. Vertebrte of fish,t two and a half to three inches 

 diameter, are amongst the specimens in the Geological 

 Society's Museum, but as yet they have not been deter- 

 mined. 



It is worthy of notice that, whilst the fossil Faima of 

 Perim is coeval with, and of the same character as, that 

 of the Sivalik Hills and Ava, the various species are not 

 identical throughout, and though reciprocally represen- 

 tative, are not the same. 



Remains of the Deinotherium are wholly wanting in the 

 Sivalik Hills and the Irawaddi beds, but, as has been 

 shewn before, they are to be found in Perim, and lately, 

 too, they have been discovered at Attock, in the Pimjab, 

 by Lieutenant Garnett, of the Bengal Engineers. :j: Mas- 

 todon Perimensis is the prevailing form in Perim ; Mastodon 

 Sivaleiisis and Mastodon latidens in the Sivillik Hills and 

 Ava. Dr. Falconer tells me he has never yet seen an 

 authentic specimen of elephant from Perim, but seven 

 species have been discovered in the Sivalik Beds and 

 Ava. The Sus hysudricus is common to both Perim and 



• Dr. Falconer, who discovered this singular animal, thinks it may have sur- 

 vived as a species till India was peopled with human beings ; and he thinks this 

 may account for some of the talcs of Hindoo Mythology, which represents the world 

 as supported by an elephant standing on the back of a tortoise. 



The natives of India seem to have long regarded the fossils of the Sivalik Hills 

 as renmants of giants slain by Ramchundra. 



f Falconer. " Journal of the Geological Society," vol. i. p. 305. 



X Falconer on the Species of Mastodon and Elephant occurring in the Fossil 

 Slate in Great IJritain. " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," Noveuiber 

 1857, p."). 



