PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

 Vol. IV. Part II. 1843—1844. No. 98. 



Nov, 15, 1843.— G. T. Vigne, Esq. of Woodford, Essex, was 

 elected a Fellow of this Society. 



" On some Fossil Remains of Anoplotherium and Giraffe, from the 

 Sewalik Hills, in the north of India." By H. Falconer, M.D., F.G.S., 

 and Capt. P. T. Cautley, of the Bengal Artillery, F.G.S. 



In continuation of their former researches on the fossil remains of 

 the Sewalik Hills, the authors, in their present communication, esta- 

 blish, on the clear evidence of anatomical comparison, certain disco- 

 veries which, in previous publications, they had either merely an- 

 nounced, or had supported by proofs professedly left incomplete. 

 They now demonstrate that there occur in the remarkable tertiary 

 deposits of the Sewalik range, together with the osseous remains of 

 various other vertebrate animals, bones belonging to the two genera, 

 Anoplotherium and Giraffe : the former genus determined by Cuvier 

 from parts of skeletons dug out from the gypsum beds of Paris ; the 

 latter genus known only as one of man's contemporaries, until, in the 

 year 1838, the authors gave reason for believing its occurrence in 

 the fossil state. 



The specimens now figured and described form part of the collec- 

 tion which was made by the authors on the spot, and is now deposited 

 in the British Museum. They were found, together with remains 

 of Sivatherium, Camel, Antelope, Crocodile, and other animals, in the 

 SewaHk range to the west of the river Jumna. 



The bones are found imbedded either in clay or in sandstone. 

 "When clay is the matrix, they remain white ; and, except in being 

 deprived more or less completely of their animal matter, they have 

 tmdergone little alteration. The bones in this state the authors 

 have elsewhere designated as the " soft fossil." When sandstone 

 is the matrix, the animal matter has completely disappeared, and the 

 bone is thoroughly mineralized and rendered nearly crystalline by 

 the infiltration of siliceous or ferruginous matter, and acquires a 

 corresponding hardness, or tinge of iron, with increased specific 

 gravity. The matrix in contact with the bone is rendered compact 

 and crystalline in texture. The remains in this state have been 

 designated by the authors as the " hard fossil." 



The remains of Anoplotherium and of the larger species of Giraffe, 

 described in the present communication, belong to the " soft fossil ;" 

 those of the smaller species of girafi"e to the " hard fossil." 



VOL. IV. PART II. T 



