4 RANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [CHAP. I. 



the Vertebraria, which, he thinks, was a reed, and which he says is charac- 

 teristic of the formation. He notices the occurrence of calcareous bands 

 of sandstone ; but the very limited extent of acquaintance with the 

 field at that time may be judged from his statement, that " no dykes have 

 yet been observed to cut the coal strata." He speaks of the Pachete Hills 

 as "three cones which from their shape must be trap," and speculates 

 on the probability of finding dykes proceeding from them, — alludes to 

 the occurrence of hot springs, and concludes his brief notices, by stating 

 that little was known of the extent or boundaries of this formation. 

 Dr. Forbes Boyle, in the introduction to the " Illustrations of the 



Botany, &c, of the Himalayan Mountains," pub- 

 Dr. Forbes Eoyle, 1839. . . 



Iished m 1839, briefly mentions, page 29, the 



coal formation of Chinnakooree (Chinakuri), and gives a section of 



the beds from Chinakuri to Pachete (Panchet) Hill. The section is 



slightly inaccurate, inasmuch as the junction of the stratified rocks 



and gneiss South of Panchet is not shown to be a fault : but otherwise it is 



correct, and it is singularly so in one respect ; Panchet Hill, which has 



most unaccountably been described by others, and even by Mr. Williams 



(see below), as metamorphic or igneous, being by Dr. Boyle correctly laid 



down, not only as of conglomerate and sandstone, but also as of a 



distinct series from the rest of the field. In the same work occur 



representations of some of the fossils obtained in the Damiida formation, 



viz., Vertebraria Indica, V. radiata (probably identical with the first), 



Trizygia speciosa, Pecopteris Lindleyana, and Glossopteris ( Tceniopteris , 



or, according to some, Pecopteris) danceoides — all first named and figured 



in the work referred to. 



De la Beche, in his Geological Manual, briefly notices this field, 



but, as might be expected, his observations are 

 De la Beche, 1833. 



only a repetition of those previously recorded by 



Mr. Everest and others, and some facts contributed by Dr. F. Boyle* 



Geological Manuul (3rd edition, 1833), page 399. 



