98 REPORT — 1859. 



of India. The majority of the fossils was stated to he of Eocene age, most of them 

 having been obtained from the banks of the Irrawaddy and from Prome and its 

 neighbourhood. Prof. Oldham also collected Nummulitic fossils from Kurrachee 

 Salt Range of the Punjab, Mammalian remains from the Sewalik group ; fish teeth 

 and scales from Heinlat, Tenasserim, and Carboniferous fossils also from Tenasserim 

 Province. A list of the Tertiary fossils was given, the majority belonging to Mol- 

 lusca and to the following other classes : — 



Articulata — Crustacea and Cirripedia. 

 Radiata — Annelida and Echinodermata. 

 Protozoa — Foraminifera. 



The collection was said to contain many new and undescribed species, and to present 

 a facies or certain amount of resemblance generically, but not specifically, with 

 those from the Tertiary deposits of Europe ; whilst, on the contrary, it was mentioned 

 as a somewhat remarkable fact, that the further we go back in geological time, so 

 much the greater is seen to be the resemblance between the marine fossil Faunas 

 of distant geographical areas; for instance, the Lower Palaeozoic fossils of the 

 furthest point yet reached in Arctic explorations are many of them absolutely 

 identical with species from that formation found in our own country, whilst those 

 from the more modern deposits of Cretaceous and Tertiary age continue their re- 

 lations more by representation of forms than identity of species ; a fact con- 

 firmatory of the important observations made by the late Prof. E. Forbes on the 

 interesting subject of the distribution of species in geological time. Allusion wa3 

 made to the various Memoirs on the Palaeontology of India which have from time to 

 time appeared, principally in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Geological 

 Society of London, by which we are made acquainted with the geological forma- 

 tion of a great part of that country, showing a succession of fossiliferous strata from 

 the Upper Tertiaries, commencing with the mammalian remains of the Sewalik 

 hills, believed to be of Miocene age, and continuing through the Nummulitic group 

 and other Eocene beds, the Cretaceous and Oolitic series together with Lias and 

 Trias, to the Carboniferous and Devonian or Upper Palaeozoics. 



On Sphenopteris Hookeri, a new Fossil Fern from the Upper Old Red Sand' 

 stone formation at Kiltorkan Hill, in the County of Kilkenny, with some 

 Observations upon the Fish Remains and other associated Fossils from the 

 same locality. By William H. Baily, F.G.S., Acting Palaeontologist to 

 the Geological Survey of Ireland. 



The locality from which this rare fossil fern was obtained was described as being 

 remarkably rich in organic remains, particularly in those of plants, prominent 

 amongst which is the (Jyclopteris Hibernica, Forbes, a magnificent fern, of which 

 the detached fronds are so beautifully preserved, and in such an undisturbed conr 

 dition, as to leave no doubt that it once grew and flourished near to the spot ia 

 which its remains are entombed, which was probably the margin of a freshwater 

 lake ; so perfect is its state of preservation, that the most minute particulars of its 

 structure may be observed, such as the venation of the leaflets, the various stages 

 of its organs of fructification, and other peculiarities of its history. This fossil fern 

 was named by the late Professor Edward Forbes, and provisionally referred by him to 

 the genus Cyclopteris ; I since then it has, with other plants from the same formation, 

 been examined by M. Adolphe Brongniart, who, from the form and arrangement of 

 the leaves and their flabelliform nervation, considered it rather "to belong to the 

 genus Sphenopteris, and more particularly to that section of the genus called Adi- 

 antites ; at the same time he stated that he was not acquainted with any species 

 which approached closely to it, and thought it might possibly form even a distinct 

 genus, from its possessing isolated or intermediate leaves, springing directly from 

 the principal rachis between the large lateral pinnae *. 



The other associated plants consist of large fluted and punctated stems, one of 



* Vide letter from M. Adolphe Brongniart to Sir E. Griffith, Bart, in the Journal of the 

 Royal Dublin Society, vol. vi. 1857, p. 320. 





