Chap. V.] trichinopot,y district — ootatoor. gkoup. 57 



from the old coral reef, are also full of corals, and except that they 

 are distinctly bedded, and dip concordautly with the overlying shales, are 

 scarcely to be distinguished froai the massive limestone on Avhicli they rest. 

 A precisely similar case occurs about a mile further to the North- 

 east, near the village of Varagapaudy. Here also 

 Vai'agapaudy ridge. 



the coral limestone, which contains corals similar 



to those of the Kauray limestone, and in similar condition, is exposed 

 only towards the western extremity of the ridge, where it extends 

 beyond the boundary of the Ootatoor beds, and is seen resting on 

 the gneiss. To the East it is concealed beneath the limestones at the 

 base of the Ootatoor Group, which are also seen dipping in all directions 

 from the sides of the ridge, containing corals, which resemble, and are 

 probably identical with, those in the reef limestone. 



Again near Sirgumpore, on the North bank of that branch of the 

 Murdayaur that flows past the village, there is a 



Sirgumpore ridge. 



range of little bosses of coral-reef limestone. They 



are very small, the largest being only 30 feet across, and appear to rest 

 on a mass of gypseous shales, which in mineral character are undistin- 

 guishable from the local shales of the Ootatoor Group, while they are 

 Position on tlie beds of certainly unconformable on the plant-beds close by. 

 Ootatoor Group. j could not obtain any evidence to substantiate their 



infra-position, but so far as the dip of the shales could be relied on, they 

 appeared to underlie the limestone. Moreover, on the opposite side of the 

 limestone, (and where the limestone was absent, on the shales,) rested a bed 

 of conglomeratic limestone, full of Ootatoor fossils, and containing frag- 

 ments of the coral limestone, whereas neither fossils nor pebbles occur in 

 the shales below. This bed of limestone, which is very conspicuous, may 

 be traced across the nullah striking to the South-east, and the shales 

 beneath it, somewhat changed in mineral character, are also well exposed 

 to the South of the nullah, where they undoubtedly overlie the Varaga- 

 paudy ridge. It would seem therefore as if the coral-reef limestone were 



H 



