562 Reviews — Himalayan Triassic Fossils. 



Maryland. It is strange that the British Survey has always lahonred 

 under difficulties, and that its staif and equipment have bef^n 

 inadequate to deal w^ith many mattei's of economic interest which 

 other countries find it wise to thoroughly investigate. 



III. — (1) Beitrage zur Kenntniss der obertriadischen Cephalo- 

 poden-Faunen des Himalaya. By Dr. Edmund Mojsisovics 

 Edler von Mojsvar. Denkschr. d. k. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, 

 Wien, math.-naturw. Classe, Bd. Ixiii, pp. 575-701, pis. i-xxii, 

 1896. 



(2) Himalayan Fossils. The Cephalopoda of the Muschelkalk. 

 By Carl Diener. Mem. Geol. Surv, India. Palseontologia 

 Indica, ser. xv, vol. ii, part 2, 118 pp., xxxi pis., 1895. 



WHEN the older collections from the Himalayan Trias were 

 described, species were regarded in a much wider sense than 

 obtains nowadays ; hence, before the correlation of the Indian Trias 

 with the Triassic rocks of other countries could be attempted, it was 

 necessary for these collections to be re-examined and fully described. 



Accordingly, at the suggestion of Mr. Griesbach (now Director), 

 the Geological Survey of India consented to send all their collections 

 of Himalayan fossils to Professor Suess in Vienna, in order that they 

 might be worked out by Austrian specialists. (1) The Cephalopoda 

 w^ere entrusted to Dr. E. Mojsisovics, who has done so much work 

 on the Cephalopoda of the Austrian Trias ; and he at once saw 

 that by far the larger number of the specimens came from the lower 

 portion of the Trias, and that the upper beds were represented by 

 only a few specimens. Recognizing the scientific interest which 

 a more detailed knowledge of the Himalayan Trias would have, in 

 some " Preliminary Remarks on the Cephalopoda of the Himalayan 

 Trias," which Dr. Mojsisovics communicated to the Imperial Academy 

 of Sciences, Vienna, he advocated the sending out of a special 

 expedition to the Himalayas to collect Triassic fossils, and' indicated 

 the more important and more promising localities at which collections 

 should be made. Thanks to the liberal response of the Director of 

 the Indian Geological Survey, who obtained the necessary funds 

 from the Indian Government, and owing also to the liberality of the 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna, an expedition was sent 

 out, consisting of Messrs. Griesbach and Middlemiss, of the Indian 

 Geological Survey, and Dr. Diener, of Vienna. The expedition was 

 made during about five months of the year 1892, and proved very 

 successful, extensive collections being made. These were also sent 

 to Vienna, and the Triassic Cephalopoda contained therein form by 

 far the greater part of the material which is described in the present 

 memoirs. The Upper Triassic forms have been dealt with by 

 Dr. E. von Mojsisovics, whilst Dr. Diener himself has described the 

 fauna of the Muschelkalk, and will describe also that of the Lower 

 Triassic rocks. 



The first discovery of Triassic fossils in the Himalayas is due to 

 Captain (now Sir Richard) Strachey, who communicated an account 

 of his geological discoveries in the Himalayas to the Geological 



