Vi PREFACE. 



that one of the groups in the eastern part of the Eange, con- 

 taining many ill-preserved shells, as also some doubtful beds 

 below the nummulitic, might be cretaceous ; while another 

 unfossiliferous group was thought by him to be possibly 

 triassic. About the probable places of one or two other un- 

 fossiliferous groups he expressed doubt. 



Shortly before making the first draft of the present Me- 

 moir, I had had the advantage of frequent discussions upon 

 the local geology with Dr. Waagen, who further gave me 

 some field notes detailing certain sections which he had 

 visited after I left him. I have, in several instances, used 

 these notes in preference to my own, because they are more 

 detailed, and because they possess the advantage that the 

 most characteristic and abundant fossils have been identified 

 by a competent palaeontologist. 



At one time it was intended to have made this Salt E^ange 

 Memoir a joint production by Dr. Waagen and myself, and 

 to have added a description of the palaeontology and a com- 

 parison between the geology and that of some European re- 

 gions, together with plates and figures to illustrate both the 

 geology and palaeontology of the district ; but Dr. Waagen's 

 labours upon the fossil Cephalopoda of Kach, followed by his 

 long absence on sick-leave, prevented the design, of which he 

 would have written the palseontological portion, from being 

 carried out. His early retirement from the Survey in ill- 

 health before he could work out the Salt Eange collections 

 or contribute towards the manuscript of a joint report, be- 

 yond what will be acknowledged in the following pages, and 

 a few marginal notes on my preliminary report, has left to 



