2 A. B. WYNNE, ON FUOG-BEDS IN THE ISLAND OF BOMBAY. 



of the gray trap upon which they have been deposited, and which is seen 

 at the bottom of the quarry, is uneven, having great lumpy protuberances 

 interrupting the extension of the shales. At a little distance above the 

 lower band, a considerably thicker one without any marked boundary 

 occurs, being apparently merely a shaly condition of the ashy rock. It 

 is flaggy in places, very thinly laminated ; when damp somewhat flexible, 

 papyraceous, and its colour is a dull olive, proceeding apparently from 

 decomposition. The whole of these soft portions of the rocks seen have 

 a look of irregularity, and the upper part beneath the basalt which caps 

 the hill is of a soft reddish rusty and friable nature. 



In the lowest or darker shales the best preserved specimens of the 

 Rana pusilla, Owen, have been found associated with ribbed fragments of 

 plants and larger, but generally shapeless, pieces of carbonised vegetable 

 organisms almost devoid of structure. The frog skeletons are numerous, 

 being seen on some slabs scattered over the surface at intervals of from 

 one to eight or nine inches in all kinds of postures ; the hind legs extended, 

 crossed, contracted, or twisted ; the other limbs are less frequently pre- 

 served. In the upper band the skeletons are even more numerous, 

 relieved in black against the lighter color of the rock ; this, though some- 

 what coherent at first, soon becomes so separated and fragile that 

 preservation of the specimens is difiicult. In one instance only part of a 

 skeleton was seen replaced with a white mineral, perhaps carbonate of 

 lime, but the small size of the skeletons, usually about I5 inches in length, 

 prevented recognition. 



Frog-beds do not occur in the upper portion of the soft band, which 

 is, however, too intimately associated with the shales to be separated, and 

 the whole group' may be stated to average somewhat less than 100 feet 

 in thickness. 



The height of Malabar Hill at this place appears to have been un- 

 derstated ; judging from the measurement of the ashy and shale group, 

 it must be rather over 200 feet instead of 180, and may be more 

 nearly 230 feet. 

 ( 386 ) 



