48 HUGHES. KARANPtJllA COAL-FIELDS, 



Ironstone shales group. — Qlossopteris, Sigillaria (?) and many in- 

 distinct forms. No evidence of a fauna. 



Rdmganj group. — Vertehraria, Phi/llotheca, Pecopteris, Poacites, 

 Glossopteris, ScJiizoneura, (?) Tmniopteris , Trizygia, Sphenopteris. No 

 fauna. 



PancJiet series. — 



Lower Panchet : Schizoneura, Tmniopteris, Sphenopteris, Neuropteris, 

 Pecopteris, Preissleria. 



The fauna consists of Labyrinthodont and Dicynodont remains ; the 

 bones of some saurian distinct from Bicynodon ; and an Ustheri'a. 



There is an entire absence of undoubtedly marine remains through- 

 out these rocks. This fact impels us to favour most those views which 

 advocate that the great plant-bearing series is a fresh-water or estu- 

 arine deposit. That the Damiidas and the Panchets were formed under 

 any other than fluvial, lacustrine, or estuarine conditions may be easily 

 disproved ; but with respect to the Talchirs, it once appeared to me very 

 probable that the formation of the boulder bed at the base was due in 

 great part to the agency of the sea. 



In the report upon the Jherria coal-field I appealed to the action 

 of the sea upon a line of coast. I mentioned that the Island of Penang 

 afforded an instance of a deposit now forming somewhat similar to the 

 one that ushered in the Talchir epoch. 



At that time, however, my observations upon the distribution of the 

 boulder bed had been confined solely to the limits of each of the fields 

 of the Damiida valley. I was of opinion that it was only a fringing 

 deposit ; and if this had been the case, the hypothesis which 1 advanced 

 would have answered every requirement, — a coast line of cliff's from 

 which blocks of all sizes broke off", currents carrying along pebbles and 

 drift, and a shallow sea. 



It has, however, been shown that this bed is spread in some 

 cases over many square miles, as, for instance, the area described by 



(, 333 ) 



