NERBUDDA DISTRICT. 107 



would appear indispensably necessary to the success of an attempt such 

 as he made in his " Summary ." This circumstance accounts for the 

 presence of the extraordinary statements of which it is made up in the 

 portion which treats of this part of India. It would seem indeed almost 

 to be regretted that the indomitable industry and great power of classi- 

 fication and combination of which this work gives proof, as well as the 

 scientific reputation of its author, should have stamped with authority 

 and given currency to generalizations which possess absolutely no other 

 recommendation. 



It would be out of place here to enter into any detailed examination 

 of Dr. Carter's valuable Summary, which is well known to Indian 

 Geologists, and it will suffice to refer to a few of the points on which 

 the Geological Survey are at issue with that author. 



The first of these will naturally strike any Geologist coming from the 

 Ganges Valley towards that of the Nerbudda, when he reaches the 

 Kuttra Ghat. Dr. Carter assumes the " Kuttra Shale" to be the 

 representation of the Burdwan Rocks, and of carboniferous strata 

 in other parts of India. As there is no fossil evidence to appeal to, 

 this identification must necessarily rest on lithological grounds, and 

 would certainly never have been made had the theorist ever seen rocks 

 of the two formations which he identifies, and which are strongly con- 

 trasted in many ways. Again, Dr. Carter under " Punna Sandstone" 

 includes the escarpment rocks north of Hosungabad with those on the 

 opposite side of the valley, there forming the north-east boundary of 

 the great trap area of West India. Lieutenant Finnis, who described 

 these rocks twenty years before, did not confound the Sandstone north 

 and south of the valley, nor could any one who had even superficially 

 observed them, have fallen into this error. Both certainly are stratified, 

 both sandstones, but here all resemblance ends. 



As a subdivision No. 2 of the group of " the Kuttra Shales" Dr. 

 Carter gives limestone, and under this head a somewhat incongruous 



