4.34 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
yielded the slightest trace of any organism, and the older fo:ma- 
tions are likewise azoic. 
Be the Vindhyans of Devonian age, as seems probable, or not 
it isat least certain that a long interval, during which erosion and 
denudation were active, elapsed before the conditions arose which 
accompanied the deposition of the Talchir boulder bed. The 
fossils found in the strata immediately succeeding the boulder 
bed consist of a meagre assortment of ferns and equisitace* 
such as might have existed on the borders of a lake in a damp 
temperate climate. There is not the faintest trace or indication 
of any marine action, whether of deposition or otherwise, having 
been in operation throughout the duration of this and several of 
the succeeding periods. On the other hand, the evidence, so far 
as it goes, points to the rocks having been deposited in fresh 
water lakes—as were the succeeding coal measures, and the next 
following formations—but the fossils of these latter indicate a 
much warmer, probably a truly tropical climate. 
A tempting means of explaining this state of things is offered 
by the supposition that Peninsular India formed part of a lofty 
‘table-land similar to Thibet at the present day, and that as the 
plateau subsided the climate from being at first one with very 
cold winters gradually became warmer. We have, in Western 
Bengal, evidence that the Talchir beds have been affected by 
considerable local disburbance and alternation of level, but more 
direct evidence of the existence of a lofty plateau is wanting. 
On the whole it would appear to be safer to refer the pheno- 
mena to some widespread or cosmical condition of the cli- 
mate, and when viewing the question from this point of view 
we have the striking coincidence that the Permian breccias of 
England are regarded by Professor Ramsay and others to be of 
glacial origin, and that the Karoo Boulder beds of South Africa, 
which are likewise of Permian age, are described by Mr. Gries- 
bach, also, to indicate a glacial temperature. And here I may 
add that I understand that Mr. Griesbach, who is now a member 
of the Geological Survey of India, reports a striking identity to 
* Tt is noteworthy that the soil derived from the Talchir rocks is generally a very 
poor one as compared with that from the rocks of subsequent periods wherein vegetable 
life was more abundant. 
