30 RANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [CHAP. II. 



rocks ; their Flora, so far as known, shows an almost complete change, 



and animal remains of reptiles, fish, and crus- 

 Panche't series. . 



taceans, have been discovered in them. They 



are also completely distinct in mineral character, and contain no coal 

 seams. For these beds, which, although noticed and described by Wil- 

 liams, have not, until now, been separated as a distinct group, the name 

 Panchet is proposed, from the fine hill of Panchet, the lower portion of 

 which consists of them. The village of the same name, just South of 

 the hill, is the residence of a Rajah, whose predecessors owned a large 

 portion of the area of the coal field, and a considerable proportion is 

 still included in his estates. 



4. In the hills already mentioned near the South boundary of the 



field, (Panchet, Beharinath, and Garangi,) the 



Panchet grits. 



clays and sandstones of the Panchet group are 

 capped by coarser sandstones with conglomerates. It is possible that 

 these also belong to the Panchet group, the upper beds of which are in 

 places very similar ; but this is quite uncertain, and some reasons will 

 hereafter be given for supposing that these beds may be of the same 

 age as the lower portion of the Rajmahal group,* to which, though with 

 considerable doubt, they may be provisionally referred. 



5. The higher rocks which occur are : 1st, a series of very coarse 



ferruginous sandstones, with mottled clays, which 

 form a high ridge near Khyrasol, East of Rani- 

 ganj, and are but ill seen, being mainly covered and concealed by late- 

 rite ; 2nd, the laterite itself ; 3rd, alluvium in various forms. Each 

 must receive a short notice, but the main object of the present Report 

 is the description in detail of the Damuda beds, and their immediate 

 associates of the Talchir and Panchet groups. 



* In the helief that these beds might be merely an upper series of the Panchets, I suggested, 

 in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the name of Upper Panchets for them ; but 

 further consideration has induced me to doubt the advisability of expressing a decided opinion 

 upon the subject. 



