1921.} The Eighth Indian Science Congress. elxxxvil 
lake has much fallen, people might argue that the said forest growing at 
a height of about 8,000 feet is the climax of a ‘ mountain succession.’ 
(6) The Dal lake is drying up on account of— 
(a) centripetal encroachment of willows and other marshy and 
swampy ion 
(6) Rain and melting snow on the surrounding mountains bringing 
lot of silt and mud. 
(c) Arrah oe falling into the Dal and bringing huge quantities of 
suspen r 
(7) Periodicity in vegetation and flowering. 
(8) Influence of man in changing the character of vegetation and disturb- 
se the balance subsisting between the various communities of 
ants, 
Section of Geology 
President: —D. N. Wavia, M.A., B.Sc., F.G.S. 
Presidential Address. 
I. THe Position OF THE SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY IN INDIA. 
The work accom- with the principal object of preparing a 
Sieal: pee ak general geological map of the country; it is 
dia. od 
exploration such as India offered in those days, with a number 
of workers which looks small in comparison with the scientific 
force employed in the Geological Survey of a single State of the 
United States of America. But the labours of this small band of 
scientists, unsupported by any outside help or co-operation (with 
a few honourable exceptions) have already borne fruit, for not 
only have the foundations of Indian Stratigraphy been securely 
laid. and its frame-work built in a way such as future research 
ago, in connection with the rock-complexes and ore-bodies of 
the Peninsula, all testify that the laurels won by the Pioneers 
of the last generation have been worthily maintained by their 
successors of the present generation. 
