646 



ANCIENT FLUVIATILE DEPOSITS 



4. That the fossil remains occurring in the undisturbed 

 banks of clay and kankar, at the bottom of the section, are 

 of the same age as the deposits in which they occur. 



5. That the ancient fossil Mammalia of the Gangetic 

 valley belong to the Pliocene fauna of the Nerbudda, as dis- 

 tinguished from the Miocene fauna of the Sewalik hills. 



6. That of the Jumna fossil Crocodiles, some belong to 

 species which are now living ; and that of the extinct Mam- 

 malia, some were probably contemporaries of man. 



7. That no trustworthy cases of the occurrence of very 

 ancient human bones or industrial objects have yet been 

 established from the sections of the Jumna and Ganges, but 

 that they may be looked for on a more careful and extended 

 search. 



8. That in the great abundance of calcareous concretionary 

 deposits there is an analogy between the alluvial beds of the 

 valleys of the Ganges and Nile ; but that in the property of 

 vertebrate remains, the latter, in so far as it has been ex- 

 plored, is a remarkable contrast to the former. 



§ III. Antiquity op Man in India. 



1. Introduction. — In discussing some of the speculative 

 points which have been raised in this paper, I have introduced 

 topics which are not usually brought before the Society. 

 But I make no apology. Geology has never disdained to 



of Deer, and of the size of the common 

 C'ervus porcinus of India, impregnated 

 with hydrate of iron and retaining but 

 a slight trace of animal matter, together 

 with portions of the bony shell of a spe- 

 cies of Trionyx, resembling those now 

 found existirg in India, were brought 

 up from the lower part of this sand at 

 depths of 350 and 375 feet below the 

 surface. The sand is followed by a bed 

 of blue clay full of freshwater shells, 

 which from their fragmentary and inco- 

 herent condition could not bo specially 

 identified. Under this lacustrine depo- 

 sit, another " dirt bed " or dark-coloured 

 clay occurs, composed almost entirely of 

 decomposed or decayed woody matter, 

 mixed up with argillaceous earth, ex- 

 pending through a depth of 10 feet. At 

 this point, about 400 feet below the sur- 

 face, a remarkable and abrupt change 

 takes place in the sedimentary character 

 of the strata of the delta. Immediately 

 below the clay an enormous accumula- 

 tion of gravel is met with, consisting of 

 boulders and large rounded pebbles of 

 quartz, felspar, limestone, and other 

 primitive rocks, among which a rolled 



?y 



fragment of vesicular basalt (?) is stated 

 to have been found. From the upper 

 portion of this gravel, near its junction 

 with the superincumbent clay, frag- 

 ments of excellent coal were brought up, 

 a large field of this mineral occurring in 

 the Burdwan district, 70 miles above 

 Calcutta. Fragments of lignite, re- 

 sembling that found in the adjacent 

 hilly district of Cuttack, together with 

 , caudal vertebrae, attributed to a Lacer- 

 I tine or small Crocodile form, and Chelo- 

 | nian remains referable, like those from 

 the superincumbent sand-beds, to species 

 of the freshwater genus Trionyx, were 

 yielded at different depths by the gravel. 

 Near the bottom of the bore, the auger 

 passed through a log of waterworn de- 

 cayed wood, uncarbonized, and so little 

 altered as to resemble in every respect 

 "fragments occurring in the modern 

 alluvium of the Soonderbuns." The 

 bore terminated at 481 feet beneath the 

 surface by the auger becoming unfor- 

 tunately jammed, the gravel still con- 

 tinuing of the same character, although 

 already penetrated to a depth of 85 

 feet.'— [Ed.] 



