134 W. BLANFORDj WESTERN INDIA. [PaRT II. 



they have heeu" examined, and the coralline limestone at the top is 

 far better developed. Near Cheerakhan, the spot 

 where distinct cretaceous fossils were first found 

 ])y Captain (now Colonel) Keatinge in 1856, a very large proportion of 

 the surface of the country consists of the coralline limestone. About 

 half a mile north of the village, fine sections are seen in some glens. In 

 these the uppermost 6 or 8 feet, sometimes more, is formed of this rock ; 

 below it there is argillaceous nodular limestone, and at the base of the 

 formation a varying thickness of sandstone and conglomerate, occasion- 

 ally, but rarely, less than four or five feet in thickness. Usually it is 

 considerably more. The whole series here, however, does not exceed 

 60 feet in thickness, frequently it is less, in consequence of irregular 

 denudation before it was covered by trap. So uneven is the surface on 

 which the trap rests that at times it appears as if faulted against the 

 cretaceous beds, or even as though underlying them, in consequence of 

 its resting against old cliffs. 



The coralline limestone occasionally shews false bedding, and it 

 appears to have been formed of broken fragments, 

 in great part of Bryozoa. Numerous sections of it 

 occur for the country is covered with ancient quarries in it^ slabs cut 

 from which are said to have been largely used in building the palaces and 

 mosques of Mandoo ; a statement which is borne out by the character of 

 the stone employed at that place. 



The nodular limestone, which underlies the upper 8 or 10 feet of 



coralline limestone, is frequently ferruginous and 



rubbly, and sometimes highly fossiliferous. From 



it the greater portion of the fossils as yet found in these beds has been 



obtained. The most abundant by far near Cheera- 

 Fossils. . . , 



khan is an Echmoderm, Hemiaster near to similis. 



A small ^/^.y«co;2e//flr comes next in abundance, and then Pecten i-cosUitus, 



( 396 ) 



