16 king: coastal region of the godavari district. 



flatly-denuded surfaces so characteristic of many of the hills in the 

 gneiss country ; but these could hardly be expected to have been pre- 

 served among such easily worn rocks, even if, which is barely possible, 

 any of the old upper surface remain in these hills. 



The fossil plants determining the age of these beds were obtained by 

 Fossils and their local- Blanf ord at Somavaram, south of Nuzvid, and at 

 lties " Kunlacheru, 16 miles north of Ellore; fronds of 



Glossopteris at the former locality and Vertebraria at the latter. I sub- 

 sequently obtained Vertebraria also at Somavaram, and other vegetable 

 remains from fine pale dove-coloured compact shales a short distance 

 south-east of the village at the bottom of a low scarped hill below soft 

 coarse felspathic sandstones. On the west side and to the south of the 

 village there are many wells, the debris from which consist of soft white 

 and yellow clayey sandstones very coarse-grained, and in these were 

 many fine specimens of Glossopteris, &c. 



The number of fossils from the Kunlacheru locality was increased 

 by finer specimens of Vertebraria, Glossopteris, and Vhylotheca. Frag- 

 ments of the first plant occur close to the village in a thick bed of 

 compact splintery clayey sandstone, but the proper fossil locality is at 

 the base of the ' Gut/ a small conical hill about 100 feet high to the 

 west of the village. On the east side of this hill a tolerably fair section 

 is exposed, all the rest of the slopes being covered with thick jungle. 



At the base, about 10 feet of very coarse open-textured felspathic 



sandstones succeeded by 10 feet more of hard, very 

 Association of fossils. ■,■■>■, 



slightly calcareous fine clayey sandstones with 



fossils, over which come 20 feet of coarse beds like those at the bottom. 

 Next come 6 feet of splintery silicious beds, overlaid by 40 feet of the 

 coarse felspathic beds : all topped by a capping of nearly 20 feet of hard 

 semi-vitreous ferruginous purple and brown sandstones and pebble beds 

 belonging to the Upper Gondwanas. The beds are dipping about 5° east- 

 wards. The fossiliferous band near the base is thus : 



a. Glossopteris seam .......... 2 feet 



b. Vertebraria „ . . . . . . . . . . 2 



c. Splintery calcareous clayey bed ........ 6 „ 



( 210 ) • • 



