GhAP. XI.] GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CUDDALORE GROUP. 177 



however we may Avith considerable confidence trace the Cudda- 

 lore sandstone formation considerably to the North of the area 

 described. 



I should, in the first place, mention that although I did not visit 

 Extent North of Mer- ^^^^ coast to the North of the Mercanum alluvium, 

 an elevated ridge covered with red soil, which I 

 h'ave no doubt is the continuation of the Cuddalore formation, appears in 

 that direction ; and very possibly extends for some miles Northwards. 

 Beyond this I am not aware of the occurrence of any sedimentary rocks 

 as far as Madras, 8 miles to the North-west of which is a sandstone' 

 formation well known as the '• R,ed Hills,'' and considered by Captain 

 Newbold* to have been at one time continuous with the " Red Hills" of 

 Pondicherry. This formation, according to the sam« author, covers 

 an area of 50 square miles, forming " an undulating tract elevated' 

 usually I'O or 50 feet above the general level of the country." These 

 beds, like a large part of the Cuddalore formation of South Arcot, are 

 either covered by laterite of more recent formation, or have a portion of 

 their surface beds converted into that rock. Again to the West of Madras, 



between Poonamallee and Sfcripermatoor, a sand- 

 At Stripermatoor. 



stone formation occurs, bounded by a little escarp- 

 ment about 40 feet high, and in its mineral characters closely resembling 

 the Cuddalore formation. Like the *' Red Hills'' of Madras, it was regarded 

 by Captain Newbold as contemporaneous with the beds of Trivicary^ 

 but at a later period some beds, apparently belonging to this formation at 

 Stripermatoor, were stated by the Messrs. Schlagintweit to contaia 



remains of zamias (a statement which 1 had subse- 

 Zamia beds. 



quently an opportunit}' of confirming). The re- 

 mains met with by myself were very fragmentary, and apparently not 

 plentiful. They were imbedded in a laminated white clay which appears 

 in a nullah 1 mile to the South of the village, and dips apparently 4° or 

 * Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, VoL' XV., page 204—206. 



