586 REPORT—1883. 
of the hippopotamus, crocodiles, and tortoises, of which the common crocodile, the 
gavial, or long-snouted species, and an emys have survived the many geological 
changes, and still inhabit the rivers and low grounds of India to-day. The fresh- 
water shells are still the same now as then. Many species of antelope lived in 
the neighbouring plains and uplands; the elephant was there in the zenith of its 
existence, forno less than thirteen species have been found fossil in Northern India; 
but it is impossible, in a short address, to enumerate the richness of this fauna, and 
the extreme interest that surrounds it. 
Miocene of European Area.—lIf we now turn to Europe to compare formations 
of similar age, Lombardy and the valley of the Pv, with the southern side of the 
Alps, present to us somewhat similar physical features. A large area of about 
the size of the north-west Panjab, once a part of the miocene sea, is occupied by 
a remnant of rocks of that age, considerably elevated and tilted, but not to such 
an extent as those of the Himalayas. Near Turin these dip towards the mountains, 
and a very short examination shows the undoubted glacial character of some of the 
beds ; * and, as the whole formation is marine, their large sharply angular material, 
much of which is jurassic limestone, was probably transported from the adjacent 
mountains by the agency of ice in a shallow sea.” After the great crushing and 
alteration of the previous outlines of the whole country another sea filled the basin 
of the Po, and pliocene deposits were laid down in a sinking area extending to the 
base of the mountains all round the new bay or gulf. Re-elevation again set in, 
and with it, or soon after it, the advent of another, and the last, glacial period. 
But the bounds of the pliocene sea extended even farther than the base of the 
mountains. At the south end of the Lago d’Orta, well within the hills, sheltering 
under the isolated porphyry hill of Buccione, and 280 feet above the present lake 
(or 1,500 feet above the sea), I had the good fortune to discover this summer a 
patch of pliocene sands and clays, with marine shells in excellent preservation, 
which I am not aware has been noticed before. Sixty-four feet of the section is 
exposed, capped by moraine matter; its base was not seen, and the beds dip north. 
This remnant tells us a good deal. From where it rests there is a clear horizon to 
the north down the lake to the junction of its river with the Toce—unmistakable 
evidence that these beds must have extended far in this northern direction, and 
that long fiord-like arms of the sea stretched up as far as Domo d’Ossola on one 
side, and Bellinzona on the other, This marine bed is far above the level of the 
Lago Maggiore, but I may mention that I also found marine shells of pleistocene 
age 112 feet above that lake near Arona, of which details cannot here be given. 
Before the last great elevation of the Alpine chain the old line of sea-coast, 
therefore, ran even high up the long deep valleys of Maggiore, Como, Garda, &c., 
during the early pliocene period ; the mountains then, quite as high as now, enjoy- 
ing a warm, moist climate, not a glacial one. ‘hen came the gradual but uneven 
elevation of the whole area, including the miocene hills south of the Po, and lacus- 
trine and estuary conditions prevailed over much of the plain country. The lapse 
of time was probably enormous, and as the land rose and the sea retired the climate 
gradually became cooler, and ushered in the glacial period. I do not think it would 
be an exaggeration to add another 5,000 feet to the Alpine peaks of that time, 
which would give them an altitude equal to the Zaskar range of the N.W. Hima- 
layas of the present day. With the change and the increased volume of the mountain 
torrents, the destruction of the upraised marine pliocene beds commenced, and finally 
culminated in the extreme extension of the glaciers, even into the plains; they 
scoured out almost completely the whole of these deposits, which then filled the 
great valleys and the country at the base of the mountains, to redistribute them 
again over the plain of the Po, and silt up what remained there of the old estuary 
1 Martius and Gastaldi. Bull. Soc. Géol. France, ser. 2, tome vii. pp. 554-603 (1850). 
? No trace has been observed of this glacial period in the miocene of India; the 
most lofty portions of the chain had not then attained a greater elevation probably 
than 14,000 to 18,000 feet, and the outer axis lines far less. However, in the tertiary 
beds (middle Eocene ?) of the Indus Valley below Leh, such conditions are indicated 
by Lydekker. Memoirs of Geological Survey of India, vol. xxii. p. 104, which I have 
received since this address was sent to press. 
