12 HUGHES. — KAKANPUKA COAL-PIELDS. 



their mineral or stratigraphical features^ I shall conclude this notice of 



the series by a few remarks on the organic remains which it has 



yielded. 



I merely mention the word 'fauna^ to draw attention to the absence 



of any evidence of animal life more distinct than 

 Flora. 



annelid tracks. The search for plant remains, 



however, was more successful. In the higher beds of the series, below the 



junction of the Tordag and Lurunga streams, some well preserved fronds 



of a Glossojoteris and C^dopteris were found. They occurred, in an 



extremely fine grained, greenish grey sandstone) about 30 to 40 feet, 



below the base of the Barakar group. . . 



In this instance as in every other throughout the Damiida coal- 

 fields, when fossils are met with in the Talchirs, it is always near the 

 top of the series, when those physical conditions appear to have been 

 approaching, which were afterwards to sustain the wonderful veg^tjible 

 energy of the Damuda period. 



The Damuda Series. 



This series which is emphatically the true coal -bearing series of India 

 exposes an area of 371 square miles. It is divisible as usual into its 

 three groups, — an upper and a lower set of coal-measures separated by 

 a series of ironstone shales, — Barakar, Ironstone shales, and 

 Kaniganj. 



They do not present quite the same lithological aspect here as in 

 the other coal-fields of the same valley. There is a gradual change in. 

 the texture of the sandstones and in the relative proportions of quartz 

 and felspar, and there is an increase of lime in their composition as 

 they extend westward. These distinctions have, of course, no special 

 bearing on the physical conditions of formation of the sandstones, 

 but such changes are worthy of note. 



( 296 ) 



