Manual of the Geology of India. 131 
admits only of very brief references to it. The Lower Gondwana 
beds are the oldest beds in the peninsula known to contain fossil 
remains, but none of these are marine, an4 all the groups, which 
consist of sandstones and shales and some beds of coal, appear to be 
of freshwater origin. The Upper Gondwanas appear also to be 
mainly of freshwater origin, but some marine beds are associated 
with them. “From a consideration of the facts known, the approxi- 
mate age assigned to the Lower Gondwanas is Permian and ‘Triassic, 
possibly a little older or a little newer, the evidence being by no 
means conclusive: the Upper Gondwanas are with more certainty 
classed as Jurassic” (p. xxviii). 
“The area occupied by the Gondwana system is mainly confined 
to the country between the Narbada and Son to the north, and the 
Kistna to the south. The only outliers in the peninsula beyond the 
limits named are near the east coast, and on the westward in Kattywar, 
Cutch and Jesalmir, and consist of Upper Gondwanas only.” 
Among much valuable information given concerning the Gondwana 
system is a very interesting discussion as to the supposed relation- 
ship between the apparently fluviatile basins in which the Gondwana 
rocks occur and the valleys of the existing rivers, which was held by 
some Indian geologists to be very noteworthy; but this view is 
not favoured by the authors (p. xxviii et passim). The relation 
between the Gondwana series and the great Deccan traps is also 
treated of, and it is shown that “the vast tracts of Gondwana 
rocks now exposed in these areas owe their preservation in all pro- 
bability to the protection from denudation afforded by the overlying 
traps.” Especially interesting is the relation between the trap and 
Upper Gondwana beds in the Rajmahal hills. 
The physical geography of the Gondwana period is briefly dis- 
missed, as but little is to be said on the subject. The very contra- 
dictory relations of the Flora and Fauna are entered into fully, and 
are very well epitomized in the Introduction (p. xxxii). The plants 
of the Lower Series are Acrogens and Gymnogens ; the former 
(Equisetaceze and Ferns) being much more numerous, both in species 
and individually, than the latter, which consists of Cycads and Conifers. 
The plants of the Upper Series consist of the same classes in different 
proportion. Equisetaceze have nearly disappeared, and Conifers and 
Cycads, the latter more especially, are more numerous than the 
Ferns. “The only formations in which plant-remains occur in abun- 
dance are the Karharbari, Damtida and Rajmahal, and even in 
these the number of species is comparatively far from great.” 
Of the three distinct floras in the Lower Gondwana Series, the 
lowest, the Talchir and Karharbari, has strong affinity to the lowest 
beds of the European Trias, but an equally close connexion with the 
Carboniferous (Upper Palaeozoic) of Australia, a resemblance which is 
still much more striking in the succeeding Damida group, some of 
the former being identical, and many closely allied. There is also a 
near agreement between the Damida plants and the South African 
forms of the Karoo Series. ‘On the other hand, the affinity between 
the Damfda flora and that of any lower Mesozoic or Paleozoic 
