2 hughes: wardha valley coal-field. 



Mr. Hislop, to whom so much is due for his pioneer labours in the 



Central Provinces, was the first who accumulated a connected series of 



geological facts of the Wardha valley. A list of 

 Hislop. . . 



his papers, which commenced in 1854 and were 



contributed chiefly to the quarterly journal of the Geological Society 



of Loudon, will be found in the appendix. 



On some points the researches of the Survey have led to conclusions 

 different to those of Hislop, but the correctness of his identification of 

 the red clays of Pisdura* as Lametas (Infra trappean) has been establish- 

 ed. What calls for the highest tribute of recognition is the success 

 of his palseontological explorations. Aided by an extremely intelligent 

 native collector whom he had trained to the work, he exhumed the remains 

 of mammals, reptiles, fish, insects, molluscs and plants, which formed 

 the ground work in shaping the relations of the different rock groups 

 in which they were discovered. 



Mr. Fedden and myself have each met with moderate fortune in 

 our endeavours to follow in Hislop's footsteps, but our success is in great 

 measure due to the circumstance of his having pointed the way to where 

 the fossils occurred. 



Passing over the notices that appeared in Local Gazettes and Ad- 

 ministration reports, the only contributors to the special literature of the 

 Wardha valley are : Mr, Blanford, Dr. Oldham, and Mr. Fedden in 

 the order mentioned. 



Mr. Blanford in 1867, in accordance with a requisition for the services 



of an officer of the Geological Survey made by the Government of the 



Central Provinces (to whose notice the occurrence 

 Blanford, 1867. 



of coal in the Wardha had then recently been 



brought by Captain Lucie-Smith, the Deputy Commissioner of Chanda), 



spent a few days examining the different outcrops pointed out to him. 



* Spelt Phizdfira by Hislop. 

 ( 2 ) 



