6 CRETACEOUS ROCKS OF S. INDIA. [PaRT I. 



contemporaneous with certain beds in Java, and with others in the 

 Island of Quiriquina in the South of Chih* 



On a re-examination of the fossils, M. D'Orbigny altered his opinion, and 



in his subsequent work, the Prodrome de Paleontolor/ie,f he rano-es the 



^^^^°^® 0^ ^^^ Pondicherry fossils, with the species of 



M. D OiDigny, 1850. •'• 



which he makes sad havoc, in the 4tafje S&iionien or 



Uioper Chalk " comjyose Mt^rog^ne" (to quote the words of M. D'Archiac)| 



"onal circonscrit dans le temx^s et I'esjxtce, et dans lequel I'auteur a 



reitni Us depots lesplus distincts dans la nature," a verdict fully borne 



out, at least in the case of the Pondicherry rocks. M. D'Orbigny makes no 



mention of the Verdachellum and Trichinopoly deposits, being probably 



without any original data on which to found an opinion of their age. 



M. D'Archiac's§ opinion based on a general review of the published data, 



,, _, is scarcely more happy than that of M. D'Orbiirnv, 



M. D'Archiac. o J» 



and appears to betray a rashness of assumption, 

 unusual with that excellent author. He finds it difficult to beheve that 

 in " la petite partie de Vlnde" comprised between Pondicherry and 

 Trichinopoly, representatives of the Neocomian and Gault of Europe 

 should co-exist, and is inchned to refer the entire series to the latter epoch, 

 a solution with which he considers the generic relations of the fossils per- 

 fectly compatible. He closes, however, with the remark that further local 

 investigation appears to be necessary in order to decide the question. 



In 1854, Dr. Carter's Summary of Indian Geo- 



Dr. Carter, 1854. 



logy, containing a short notice of the Trichinopoly 

 and Pondicherry rocks, appeared in the Journal of the Bombay Branch 



* The synclirouism of the Chili and Pondicheny beds appears to be supported to some 

 extent by Professor Forbes. He identified Baculites vagina, a common Pondicherry fossil, 

 in the collection brought to England by Mr. Darwm. Geology of Soutli America, p, 126, PI. V. 

 fig. 3. 



t Prodrome do Palcontologie, 1850, Vol. II., pp. 211, 213, &c. 



% Ilistoire des Progres de la Geologic, 1S53, Tome V., p. -120. 



§ Ibid, pp. 420-21. 



