146 GEOLOGY. 



The Manchar group consists of some 5000 feet of clay, sandstone, 

 and conglomerate ; it is unconformable to the last ; its origin was 

 probably fluviatile and subaerial. It is the equivalent of the Sevalik 

 ond Nahun beds of the Punjab ; and, since it cannot itself be older than 

 Pliocene, its determination tends to throw forward the last-named to a 

 later age than has hitherto been assigned. The Manchar beds are 

 tilted up so as to form part of the Khirthar range. 



A basaltic lava-flow has been found interstratified with the Panikot 

 group. 



Lists of fossils are given. P. D. 



Blanford, W. T, Note on the geological age of certain groups com- 

 prised in the Gondwana series of India, and on the evidence they 

 afford of distinct Zoological and Botanical Terrestrial Regions 

 in ancient epochs. Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind. vol. ix. pp. 79-85. 

 Criticises the conclusions of Feistmantel (see p. 147) as to the age of 

 the subdivisions of the Gondwana series. Points out that the Kach 

 beds, though containing a L. Oolitic flora, rest upon marine strata, 

 with Portlandian and Tithonian Cephalopoda; considers that the 

 Damuda beds show as much affinity with the Australian Carboniferous 

 rocks as with the Trias of Europe ; and concludes that the terrestrial 

 faunas and floras, in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic times, varied far more 

 than the fauna of the seas, and hence the evidence of fossil plants, in 

 determining homotaxis, should be received with caution. P. D. 



. On the Physical Geography of the Great Indian Desert, with 



especial reference to the former existence of the Sea in the Indus 

 YaUey ; and on the Origin and Mode of Formation of the Sand- 

 hills. Journ. As. Soc. Bengal^ vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 86-103. 

 Noticed in Geol. Mag. dec. ii. vol. iii. pp. 508-511. 

 Describes in detail the distribution of sand hills in Eastern Sind 

 and towards Bikanir and Jodhpur. Infers from this, and from the ex- 

 istence of low-level salt pools inhabited by Potamides Lagardi, the 

 former existence of an inlet of the sea, which extended over the Han 

 of Kachh up to the E. edge of the Indus alluvium, and perhaps over the 

 whole alluvial area of the Indus valley, as well as over part of the 

 basin of the Luni. Jaysalmir and Balniir formed either an island or a 

 promontory. The sand of the desert was derived from the old coast- 

 line, and was transported into the interior by the S.W. wind. The 

 cause of the particular direction of the sand hills is discussed ; and an 

 account of the botany and zoology of the desert, in its previous state, is 

 given. F. D. 



. Eastern Persia. Vol. II. The Zoology and Geology. 



[Geology, pp. 439-506.] London. 8vo. 



Part I. reviews the writings of previous observers, sketches the 

 physical geography of Persia, and enumerates the rock-formations 

 thus: — Metamorphic rocks, including granite; Paleeozoic rocks (De- 



