of the Alluvium in India. 309 



that of flints and chert in the Upper Chalk and Greensand 

 of England respectively — bearing in mind that the former is 

 in alluvial deposits and calcareous^ and that the latter are 

 parts of the Cretaceous system and siliceous. 



Among the " Post-tertiary and Recent Formations " of 

 India mentioned in Medlicott and Blanford's ' Manual of the 

 Geology of India,' 1879 (vol. i. p. 371), it is stated : — that kun- 

 ker is '' concretionary carbonate of lime," most commonly 

 presenting itself " in nodules of an irregular shape from half 

 an inch to three or four inches in diameter," as well as in 

 " thick beds, in the alluvium," . . . . " often filling cracks 

 in the latter and the older rocks " beneath (p. 381) ; that " at 

 Bombay the alluvial deposits consist of blue and yellowish- 

 brown clay," of which the former " contains small grains 

 and nodules of kunker," while the latter " abounds with it 

 in large masses" (p. 424) ; and, lastly, that the regur, or black 

 soil of India generally, which is argillaceous, usually, when 

 more than about 6 to 10 feet deep, passing downwards into 

 brown clay, also "abounds in kunker" (p. 431). 



The late Captain Newbold observes of the regur, that 

 " from Courtney to Yailbenchi, four miles, the plain continues 

 as before, covered with a substratum of regur, or black 

 cotton-soil of India, to a depth of 1 to 18 feet, in many places 

 resting immediately on gneiss and granite, in others on an 

 intervening bed of calcareous deposit somewhat resembling 

 the travertin of Italy, though more nodular, and called by the 

 natives ' kunker.' It is burnt by them for lime. Like rows 

 of flints in chalk it is seen also in the lower layers of the 

 regur often with sharp projecting spiculse of carbonate of 

 lime, which would have been broken off had the nodules been 

 drift-pebbles." (' Notes, principally Geological, on the Tract 

 between Bellary and Bijapore,' by Captain Newbold, F.R.S. 

 &c., Madras Army. Reprinted in Carter's ' Geological 

 Papers on Western India,' 1857, p. 308.) 



Jn the same compilation, under the head of "Kunker," in 

 the index (p. 780), will be found references to all that had 

 been stated of kunker up to that time, viz. 1857 ; while at 

 pp. 159 and 700 are my own accounts respectively of the 

 kunker formation as it occurs at Bombay and over India 

 generally. They are as follows : — " There is a feature of this 

 clay (' Geology of the Island of Bombay,' 1850), however, 

 which is very remarkable, viz, the kunker formation. This, 

 which consists of concretionary limestone, occurs massive or 

 scattered throughout the clay in small isolated portions. In 

 its massive state it is found in large boulders or in continuous 

 on the freshwater strata or igneous rocks 



