1866. ] G5 DFE) 
VII. GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY. 
(Including the Proceedings of the Geological Society.) 
One of the most recent memoirs published by the Geological Survey 
of India is Dr. Ferdinand Stoliczka’s descriptions of “ Geological 
Sections across the Himalayan Mountains, from Wangtu Bridge on 
the River Sutlej to Sungdo on the Indus; with an Account of the 
Formations in Spiti, accompanied by a revision of all known Fossils 
from that District.” The geology of India possesses an ever-increas- 
ing interest to all who care to inquire how far the structure of 
England is typical of that of far distant countries. Hitherto the 
progress of the Indian survey has been fertile in results showing 
the similarity of the formations in that country to those in Europe ; 
it has also brought to light many highly interesting and curious 
points of difference, especially respecting the association of fossils, 
which in several cases has been shown to be very abnormal when 
measured by an English or even a European standard. The 
memoir now before us treats of the geological structure of the 
districts of Spiti and Rupshu, the latter beg about 50 miles to 
the north of the former. The geographical position of these dis- 
tricts will be understood when we say that they le about 100 miles 
north-east of Simla, and about 50 miles south-east of Ladak. The 
formations present in Spiti consist of a central Gneiss, Lower and 
Upper (?) Silurian, Carboniferous, Upper Trias, Lower and Middle 
Laas, Oolites of an uncertain horizon, Cretaceous strata with Rudistes, 
and fluviatile and lacustrine beds of recent date. In Rupshu 
occur Middle and Lower Lias, Rheetic, Triassic, and Carboniferous 
rocks, as well as certain Metamorphic schists and Gneiss, Epidote-, 
Diallage-, and Serpentine-rocks, and fluviatile and lacustrine deposits. 
In giving a condensed notice of so extensive a memoir, we can 
only pretend to notice some few points of the greatest interest, and 
more especially the light thrown by Dr. Stoliczka on the question 
of the correlation of the strata on the northern and southern slopes 
of the Himalayas. The “Central Gneiss,” as its name implies, 
seems to form the division between the two series of formations. 
It also appears that the metamorphic rocks of the southern slopes 
correspond in part with the Lower Silurian of the northern, the 
remaining strata of this division being also represented by similar 
rocks on the southern slope. The Upper (?) Silurian, Carboni- 
ferous, and Upper Triassic rocks appear to be equally represented on 
both sides; but, on the other hand, the Liassic, Oolitic, and Creta- 
ceous strata of the northern slope are unrepresented on the southern, 
though they exist, at least partially, in the Punjab and farther to 
the south in Cutch. Another contrast is presented by the occur- 
rence of strata on the southern side, apparently of the age of the 
Bunter sandstone, which seem to be altogether wanting on the 
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