306 R. D. Oldham — Probable Changes of Latitude. 



from the relations of tbe Marine Cretaceous rocks in India and other 

 parts of the world. Both in Southern India and Southern Africa 

 there are marine deposits of Cretaceous age, with regard to 

 which Dr. W. T. Blanford writes in the Manual of the Geology of 

 India as follows : — " Before quitting the subject of the Trichinopoly 

 Cretaceous beds, it is necessary to notice the very remarkable re- 

 semblance between a portion of their fauna and the species found in 

 certain strata in Southern Africa. In the description of tbe Gond- 

 wana system, and again in the account of the Upper Jurassic beds 

 of Cutcb, the remarkable affinities between Indian fossil plants and 

 animals, and the forms found in South African beds, were repeatedly 

 noticed, and there is a similar connexion between the Cretaceous 

 formation in the two regions. In some deposits found resting upon 

 Karoo beds on the coast of Natal, out of 35 species of Mollusca and 

 Echinodermata collected and specifically identified, 22 are identical 

 with forms found in the Cretaceous beds of Southern India, the 



majority being Trichinopoly species 



The South African beds are clearly coast or shallow-water deposits, 

 like those of India, and the great similarity of forms certainly sug- 

 gests continuity of coast-line between the two regions, and thus 

 supports the view that the land connection between South Africa 

 and India, already shown to have probably existed in both the Lower 

 and Upper Gondwana periods, and of which important indications 

 are afforded by the Marine Jurassic beds, was continued into Cre- 

 taceous times. It is very surprising to compare the Middle Cre- 

 taceous fauna of Southern India with that of the distant beds of 

 Natal, and then with the widely differing forms found in beds of 

 the same age in Central India and Southern Arabia." 1 



Speaking of the latter he says, " Some of the species have a wide 

 range in time among the Cretaceous rocks of Europe, but all occur 

 in the Upper Greensand (Cenomanian), many being characteristic 

 forms, and the Cretaceous rocks of the Narbadda valley must in 

 consequence closely correspond to the Utatur group of Southern 

 India. It is curious to note that, so far as is known, only one species, 

 Pecten (Vola) quinqueco status, is common to both, and even in this 

 case the identification depends upon a question as to which palaeon- 

 tologists are not thoroughly agreed . . . 



In strange contrast with the wide difference between the known 

 fauna of the Bagh beds and that of the Southern India deposits 

 is the similarity between the fossil remains of the Narbadda 

 valley and those found in two localities on the south-east coast 

 of Arabia. The collections examined from both localities are small, 

 and were obtained in each case during a short visit ; but although 

 the united Arabian collections only comprise 13 species and the 

 Bagh 12, three of these .... are common to the two countries. 

 The Cretaceous beds of the lower Narbadda valley are about 

 750 miles distant from those of Southern India, and twice as far 

 from the Arabian localities. The marked contrast between the 

 fossil faunas in the one case, and the similarity in the other, 

 1 Loe. eit. p 292. 





