B. Bullen Newton — Marine Fossils from Mekran Coast. 295 



in situ, and like the ' Box-Stones ' of Felixstow reach the sea beach 

 as rounded ball-like bodies without the intervention of subsequent 

 marine agencies. The present collection comprises more than eighty 

 examples of these nodules, and I am given to understand that they 

 are to be met with in large numbers on the Mekran Coast, yet, 

 notwithstanding their apparent common occurrence, there seem to 

 be no published observations upon the subject. Among the few 

 writers who have investigated the rocks of the Mekran Coast, 

 Dr. W. T. Blanford's^ name stands first. He regarded these cliff 

 deposits as of post-Nummulitic age, and named them the ' Mekran 

 Group,' describing as well their more or less flat-topped character 

 and nearly horizontal bedding, as observed at Eas Malan, which is 

 2,000 feet high, Ormara, and Gwadar. In remarking upon the 

 constitution of these beds he states that " The prevailing rock 

 along the Makran Coast is a pale grey clay, more or less indurated, 

 occasionally intersected by veins of gypsum, usually sandy and 

 often calcareous, occurring in beds of great thickness. With this 

 clay are iuterstratified bands of shelly limestone, calcareous grit, 

 and sandstone, but these usually form but a small portion of the 

 mass, although their greater hardness makes them conspicuous at 

 the surface." An abundant marine fauna is said to characterize the 

 various beds of the Mekran group with such genera as Ostrea, 

 Pecten, Area, Cardium, Lucina, Cerithium, Tnri-itella, and Natica; 

 besides Echinodermata, Corals, and Foraminifera [OpercuUna),' hut 

 without Brachiopods or Cephalopods. Dr. Blanford further states 

 that " the general facies of the Mekran fauna is utterly different 

 from that of the Lower Tertiaries ; the commonest and most 

 characteristic fossils of the Nummulitics are Foraminifera, especially 

 Nummulites and Alveolina ; the most abundant shells in the Mekran 

 Group are barnacles, oysters, and scallops. No junction of the 

 two series has hitherto been observed, but it may be safely asserted 

 that the Mekran Group is newer than the Nummulitics, for while 

 the fauna of the latter appears to be nearly or entirely extinct, 

 at all events in the shallow seas near the coast, several of the 

 Mekran fossils appear identical with the species found living, in 

 water of moderate depth, along the shores of Baluchistan and the 

 Persian Gulf." 



Capt. A. W. Stiffe,^ who next visited the Mekran Coast, found the 

 calcareous deposits to be almost entirely composed of marine organic 

 remains, in parts distinct and perfect, forming a shelly breccia and 

 passing into a more or less compact limestone. His fossils were 

 submitted to Mr. Etheridge, who reported as follows : — " The shells 

 appear to me to be of Miocene age, although all are mere casts, and 

 therefore it is very unsafe to pronounce definitely as to their age. 

 I cannot determine them to belong to the modern species of the 

 Persian Gulf. The cast of Conus, Cyprcsa, and Ostrea are certainly 

 not those of existing species ; and the mass of shelly breccia 



1 Eecords of the Geological Survey of India, 1872, vol. v, pp. 41-45. 

 * Quart. Jouru. Geol. See, 1874, vol. xxx, pp. 50-53, mth sketch-map of 

 Mekran Coast. 



