KHIRTHAR RANGE. 97 



Underneath the hard limestone band there are 300 or 400 feet of 



Section of lower Khir- argillaceous limestone, shales and clays (4) , green- 



thar group on Gaj river. ish ^ olive . and bluish-grey in colour, and, like the 



similar beds above, abounding in nummulites, which weather out in large 

 quantities. The principal forms recognized in both beds were N. obtusa, 

 N. vicaryi? (a large form near N. obtusa, but with a distinct keel), 

 N. granulosa, N. spira (less common), JV. leymeriei, and a small species 

 which is probably a variety of iV. scabra. There is also a saddle-shaped 

 variety of an Orbitoides, probably 0. dispansa. 



The next beds in descending order are olive and bluish-grey clays 

 and nodular shales (5), unfossiliferous and without any limestone bands. 

 The beds must attain a considerable thickness, for no others are seen 

 for 2 miles at least in the Gaj, except an occasional bed of sandstone ; 

 they dip at high angles, but as they roll about, and are somewhat con- 

 torted, their thickness is difficult to estimate. From beneath them thicker 

 bands of sandstone (6) crop out, and closely resemble the beds of the 

 Nari group, except in being rather harder. They are massive, pale- 

 brown in colour, and they contain nodules of ferruginous clay, whilst 

 the surfaces of the different strata ' exhibit numerous impressions of 

 vegetable fragments, none of which, however, were found sufficiently 

 definite to be recognized. Below these brown sandstones come fine 

 greenish- white sandstone and shales (7), comprising one bed, a foot thick, 

 of highly carbonaceous shale. 



Just beneath this coaly band is another bed of dark-brown limestone, 

 and some dark-green argillaceous beds (8), with nummulites (N. obtusa, 

 N. vicaryi ? , N. carteri ?, N. granulosa, N. leymeriei, N. scabra ?, N. spira, 

 and the ephippial Orbitoides) . The nummulites in the clays are beauti- 

 fully preserved. These beds must be at least 3,000 feet lower than the 

 last (4), in which nummulites were noticed, and 5,000 feet below the 

 base of the Nari group. 



Next come some whitish-grey argillaceous limestones (9), in which 

 fossils are rare ; a fragment of an echinoderm, however, was noticed in 

 them, so they must be marine. Towards the base there is a thin band, 



