FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSIS. 



Before entering on the particulars of the fauna, it may be 

 well to refer briefly to the geographical relations and the geo- 

 logical structm-e of the Sewalik hills. 



B. 



ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, PHYSICAL CHAEACTERS, AND GEOLOGICAL 

 STRUCTURE OP THE HYSUDRO-GANGETIC PORTION OF THE SEWALIK HILLS 

 IN NORTHERN HDfDOSTAN. 



By ' Sewalik hills,' it is here meant to designate that 

 range of lower elevations which stretches along the SW. 

 foot of the Himalayah mountains, for the gi-eatest portion of 

 their extent from the Indus to the Brahmapootra, where those 

 rivers respectively debouche from the hills into the plains of 

 India. The name Sewalik, • or Scevalik, has hitherto had no 

 definite application, nor has it been universally adopted by 

 the geographers of India. By some it has been restricted to 

 the tract between the rivers Jumna and Ganges ; by others to 

 that between the Ganges and Gogra forming the plain-ward 

 boundary of the province of Kumaon ; and by others to that 

 between the Gogra and Gunduck forming the northern boun- 

 dary of the province of Oude ; while in Arrowsmith's Map of 

 1816, and in the ' Grand Trigonometrical Survey Map,' the 

 designation is nowhere applied. We have resorted to the 

 term Sewalik as geognostically preferable to Sub-Himalayahs, 

 which were equally applicable to a range at the northern as 

 at the southern foot of the great chain : the ambiguity and 

 inconvenience of a term of this sort having been felt in the 

 restricted use of ' Sub-apennine.' Sewalik is also convenient 

 as a geographical designation ; and its havuig been applied 

 by various authorities to different portions of one range, other- 

 wise without a name, is a sufiicient reason for its adoption for 

 the whole of that range. 



Special object of the Memoir. — The object of this memoir is 



' Sewalik, or Scevalik, derived from 

 Siva, or Maliadeo the Hindoo God : 

 these hills, as well as the Himalayahs 

 being connected in Hindoo mythology, in 

 various ways with the history of Siva. 

 Major Renuell (Memoir, p. 72) applies 

 the name to the tract from the Sutlej to 

 Hurdwar (p. 233). 



Rennell, describing the Ganges (3rd 

 edit. 1793, p. 313), says, 'At Hurdwar it 

 (the Ganges) opens a passage through 

 Mount Sewalick, which is the chain of 

 mountains that borders on the level 



country on the north of the province of 

 Delhi. Even Sewalick would be deemed 

 a lofty range, but for the presence of 

 Mount Himmaleh or Imaus, which rises 

 above it, when viewed from the plains of 

 Hindostan.' 



Idem, p. 368. ' Sirinagur is situated on 

 an exceedingly deep, and very narrow 

 valley, formed by Mount Sewalick* the 

 nortliern boundary of Hindoostan on the 

 one side, and the vast range of Himmaleh 

 or Imaus on the other,' &c. 



* Sewalik is the term according to the 1 logy of it, that it should be Sewa-lucJc- 

 common acceptation ; but Captain Kirk- Eenkell, p. 368. 

 patrick proves, from the evident etymo- | 



