Sept. 4, i 



NATURE 



44: 



teresting are remains of Reptilia and Amphibia. The following 

 is a list of the fossil animals and plants corrected to the present 

 time : — 



ANIMALS. 

 REPTILIA. 



Dinosauria. — Ancistrodon, i sp. 

 DlCYNODONTIA. — Dicynodon (Plychognathus), 2. 



AMPHIBIA. 



Labyrinthodontia. — Gonioglyplus, 2 ; Glyptognatlius, I ; 

 Pachygonia, I. 



CRUSTACEA. 

 Estheria, I. 



PLANTS. 

 Conifer.*. — Samaropsis, i. 

 Filices. — Pecopteris, i ; Cyclopteris, I ; Thinnfeldia, I ; Olean- 



dridium, i ; Glossopteris, 3. 

 Equisetace/E. — Sckizontura, 1. 



The Schizoneura and the three species of Glossopteris are con- 

 sidered the same as Damuda forms. But with them are found 

 two European Rhretic species, Pecopteris concinna and Cyclopteris 

 pachyrachis. The Oleandridium is also closely allied to a 

 European Rhjetic form, and may be identical. The flora may 

 thus be classed as typically Rhs;tic. 



All the genera of Labyrinthodonts named are peculiar ; their 

 nearest European allies are chiefly Triassic. Dicynodontia are 

 only known with certainty from India and South Africa, but 

 some forms believed to be nearly allied have been described 

 from the Ural mountains (Huxley, Q. J. G. S. xxvi. p. 48.). 

 These fossils were obtained from rocks now referred to the 

 Permian (Twelvetrees, Q. J. G. S. xxxviii. p. 500). 



Upper Gondwdnas. — The different series of the lower Gond- 

 wanas are found in the same area, resting one upon the other, 

 so that the sequence is determined geologically. This is not 

 the case with the upper Gondwana groups ; their most fossilifer- 

 ous representatives are found in different parts of the country, 

 and the relations to each other are mainly inferred from pala?o- 

 botanical data. Although, therefore, it is probable that the 

 Rajmahals are older than the Cutch and Jabalpur beds, and that 

 the Kota-Maleri strata are of intermediate age, it is quite possible 

 that two or more of these series may have been contempora- 

 neously formed in regions with a different flora. 



Rajmahal. — The comparatively rich flora of the lowest upper 

 Gondwana series is contained in beds interstratified with basaltic 

 lava-flows of the fissure-eruption type. The following are the 

 genera (Pal. Ind. ser. ii. ; Feistmantel, Rec. G. S. I. ix. p. 39) of 

 plants found : — 



Conifer.*. — Palissya, 2 sp. ; Cunninghamites, I ; Chirolepis, 



2 ; Araucarites, 1 ; Echinostrobus, 1. 

 CYCADEACE/E. — Pterophyllum, 9 ; Ptilophyllum, I ; Otoza- 



mites, 3 ; Zamites, 1 ; Dictyozimites, I ; Cyeadites, 2 ; 



Williamsonia, 2 ; Cycadinocarpus, 1. 

 FlLICES. — Eremopteris, 2 ; Davallwides, I ; Dicksonia, I ; 



Hymenophyllites, 1 ; Cyclopteris, 1 ; Thinnfeldia, 1 ; Glei- 



chenia, I ; Alelhopteris, I ; Asplenites, I ; Pecopteris, I ; 



Macrotaniopteris, 4 ; Angioptcridium, 3 ; Danaopsis, I ; 



Rhizomopteris, 1. 

 EQUISETACE/E. — Etjuisetum, I. 



The marked change from the lower Gondwana floras is visible 

 at a glance ; not a single species is common to both, most of the 

 genera are distinct, and the difference is even greater when the 

 commonest plants are compared. In the lower Gondwanas the 

 prevalent forms are Eijuisetacece and ferns of the Glossopteris 

 type, whilst in the Rajmahal flora cycads are by far more 

 abundant than any other plants. The whole assemblage, more- 

 over, is more nearly allied than are any of those in the lower 

 Gondwana beds to European Mesozoic floras. 



Of the Rajmahal plants (Feistmantel, Pal. Ind. ser. ii. pp. 

 143, 187 ; Manual Geo/. Ind. p. 145) about fifteen are allied to 

 Rhsetic European forms, three to Liassic or Lower Jurassic (two 

 of these having also RhaHic affinities), and six to Middle Jurassic 

 (two having Rhsetic relations as well. The flora must therefore 

 as a whole on purely palaeontological grounds be classed as 

 Rhsetic. 



Kota-Maleri. — The deposits belonging to this series are found 

 in the Godavari valley at a considerable distance from the Raj- 

 mahal hills in Bengal, the locality for the Rajmahal flora. Both 

 Rajmahal and Kota-Maleri beds overlie rocks of the Damuda 



series. It is not quite clear whether the Kota beds, which 

 contain fish, insects, and crustaceans, and the Maleri beds, in 

 which remains of fish, reptiles, and plants are found, are inter- 

 stratified, or whether the Kota beds overlie those of Maleri. 

 That the two are closely connected is generally admitted. 



From the Maleri beds i-the following remains have* been 

 collected : — 



ANIMALS. 



Reptilia. — Hyperodapedon, I sp. ; Parasuchus, 1. 



Pisces. — Ceratodus, 3. 



PLANTS. 

 CONIFER.E. — Palissya, 2 ; Chirolepis, I ; Araucarites, I. 

 CycadeacE/E. — Ptilophyllum, 1 ; Cyeadites, 1. 

 Filices. — Angiopteridium, 1. 



From the Kota fresh-water limestone nine species of ganoid fish 

 — viz. fiveof Lepidotus, threeof Tetragonolepis, and one of Dapedius 

 — have been described. An Estheria, a Candona, and some 

 insects have also been found. The fish (Pal. Ind. ser. iv. pt. 2) 

 are Liassic forms. 



The Reptilia of the Maleri beds are, on the other hand, 

 Triassic ' and closely ■■ allied to Keuper forms. Ceratodus is 

 chiefly Triassic (Keuper and Rhretic). The plants show relations 

 with both the Rajmahal and Jabalpur floras, and, as the pala;- 

 ontological relations to beds in the same country are considered 

 far higher in importance than those to deposits in distant regions, 

 the Kota-Maleri beds are classed as intermediate between the 

 Rajmahal and Jabalpur epochs. 



Cutch and Jabalpur. — Jabalpur beds are found in Central 

 India to the south of the Nerbudda Valley, and form the highest 

 true Gondwana beds. The Cutch beds, as already mentioned, 

 are found interstratified with marine deposits of uppermost 

 Jurassic age far to the westward, a little east of the mouths of 

 the River Indus. The similarity of the plant-remains in the two 

 series has caused them to be classed together, but it is not certain 

 that they are really of contemporaneous origin. 



The following is a list of the Jabalpur plants (Pal. Ind. ser. 

 xi. pt. 2) : — 



Conifers. — Palissya, 2 sp. ; Araucarites, I ; Echinostrobus, 2 ; 



Brachyphyllum, I ; Taxites, 1 ; Gingko, 1 ; Phcenicopsis, 



I ; Czekanowskia, I. 

 Cycadeace/E. — Pterophyllum, I ; Ptilophyllum, 2 ; Podoza- 



mites, 3 ; Otozamites, 4 ; Williamsonia, I ; Cyeadites, I. 

 Filices. — Sphenopteris, 1 ; Dicksonia, 1 ; Alelhopteris, 3 ; 



Macroticnioptcris, I ; Glossopteris, I ; Sagenopteris, I. 



Of these thirty species nine are regarded either as identical 

 with forms found in the Middle Jurassic (Lower Oolitic) of 

 England, or as closely allied. 



The Cutch plants belong to the following genera (Pal. Ind. 

 ser. xi. pt. 1) : — 



Conifer.*. — Palissya, 3 sp. ; Pachyph) llu m , 1 ; Echini- 



strobus, I ; Araucarites, I. 

 Cycadeace.*. — Ptilophyllum, 3 ; Otozamites, 3 ; Cyeadites, 



1 ; Williamsonia, I ; Cycadolepis, 1. 

 Filices. — Oleandridium, 1 ; Teniopleris, 1 ; Alelhopteris, 1 ; 



Pecopteris, I ; Pachypteris, 2 ; Actinopteris, I . 



Of the twenty-two species enumerated, four are identified with 

 specific forms found in the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire, and 

 seven others are closely allied. The Cutch and Jabalpur beds, 

 in short, are intimately related with European fossil floras, whilst 

 the associations of Indian fossil plants found in the Rajmahal, 

 Damuda, and Karharbari beds have no such close connection 

 with Western types. 



One interesting fact should be mentioned. The Cutch flora 

 occurs in the upper part of the Umia beds, the lower beds of 

 which contain Cephalopoda of Portlandian and Tithonian forms. 

 In a lower subdivision of the Cutch Jurassic rocks, the Katrol 

 group, shown by numerous Ammonites to be allied to Kim- 

 meridge and upper Oxford beds of Western Europe, four species 

 of plants have been found, of which three are met with in the 

 Umia beds, and the fourth, an English Oolitic form, in the 

 Jabalpur series. This evidence seems in favour of the view that 

 the flora underwent change more slowly than the marine fauna. 



It will be as well, before leaving the subject of the Gondwana 

 groups, to show in a tabular form the geological age assigned to 

 the flora and fauna of each separately, on the evidence afforded 



■ Q.J. C.S. 1869, pp. 138, 152, &c; 1875, p. 427; Pal. Ind. ser. iv. pt. 2 ; 

 Man. Geol. Ind. p. 151. 



