296 H. Bullen Newton — Marine Fossils from Mekran Coast. 



containing Dentaliutn, Cardita, Astarte, Venus, TrocJius, Area, and 

 Tellina I believe to be of more modern date, if not recent." 



In his classical work on "Eastern Persia" Dr. Blanford ^ again 

 referred to the Mekran deposits as belonging to a " late Tertiary 

 formation," inserting a list of determinations by Mr. Etheridge of 

 a collection of fossils found by Dr. Day at Gwadar, ■which were 

 oonsidei'ed as exhibiting " a very late facies, and may even be 

 Pleistocene." This included Dolinm sp., Nattca Lamarckiana or 

 a closely allied form, Cerithium torulostim, Turritella sp., Fissurella sp., 

 Jouanettia, Tellina edentida,Venus sp. near plicata and rugosa, Cytherea 

 sp. near lyrata, Astarte (?) sp. allied to Ciixe corrugata, Diplodonta 

 sp., Cardium, two sp., one near G. papyraceum, Chama sp. near 

 C. isostoma, Area, four or five species, one of which is A. (Para- 

 Uelopipediim) tortuosa, the others allied to various recent forms, 

 Pectuncxdus, two species, one allied to P. pectiniformis, the other to 

 P. lividus, Pecten somewhat resembling P. pyxidatus, Ostrea sp., 

 Temnopleurus, two sp., Eupsammia sp. (coral), Mceandrina sp., 

 Operctdina sp. 



A further allusion is made to the Mekran Group in Medlicott & 

 Blanford's work on India,^ with the remark that it " appears to be 

 of later age than the Miocene Gaj Beds " ; and, again, on the evidence 

 of the Echinoidea {Temnopleurus simplex, Duncan & Sladen, etc.) 

 found in these deposits Dr. P. M. Duncan and Mr. W. P. Sladen^ 

 came to the conclusion that the beds were younger than the Gaj 

 Series ( = Miocene) of India, and consequently might be regarded as 

 Pliocene. In Mr. R. D. Oldham's edition of Medlicott & Blanford's 

 "Manual," 1893, p. 316, it is stated that "The Mekran Group 

 is of shallow-water marine origin and abounds in Mollusca, 

 Echinoderms, etc., many of the species being apparently the same as 

 living forms. The Echinoderms alone have as yet been examined 

 in detail ; they belong, without exception, to living genera, while 

 most of the species are very closely allied to recent forms, and one 

 species alone is doubtfully identical with a Gaj form. The general 

 facies of the fauna is distinctly Pliocene." Lastly, Capt. Stiffe, in 

 exhibiting " a fossil Cardium (?) " before the Geological Society 

 in January, 1899, which had been found at the foot of the Cliflfs of 

 Ormara, stated that " the fossils in the clay are difficult to find, and 

 pi'obably are generally enclosed in nodules of the clay somewhat 

 altered, as in this specimen." (Abstracts Proc. Geol. Soc. London, 

 1899, No. 701, pp. 31, 32. 



With the exception of the extracts just quoted, and which deal 

 exclusively with the fauna of the ' Mekran Group,' there are no 

 monographs on the invertebrate fossils of the Tertiary formations 

 of India which render much assistance in the determination of the 

 specimens from the Mekran nodules. It, may be as well, however, 



1 "Eastern Persia," 1876, vol. ii, pp. 462-465. 



- "A Manual of the Geology of India," 1879, vol. ii, pp. 470, 471. 



3 "The Fossil Echinoidea from the Mekran Series (Pliocene) of the Coast of 

 Biluchistan and of the Persian Gulf " : Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Pal. Indica, 1886, 

 pp. 369-382, pis. Ivi-lviii. 



