380 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [March 22, 



The great mass of the fossil bones which were discovered during 

 the first five years of the operations were unfortunately lost, having 

 been heedlessly thrown back into the deep channel ; and only those 

 subsequently met with were preserved. They were found either 

 imbedded in the lowest deposit of stiff clay or in the shoals of kankar. 

 Of the latter, some were unquestionably of very modern origin, since 

 they yielded a sword and portions of a sunken boat. Their mode of 

 formation is obvious. Nodules of kankar and fossil bones, detached 

 from the alluvial cliffs by various denudating agencies, are swept on 

 by the floods until they meet with some obstruction, where they col- 

 lect and get commingled with extraneous materials of modern origin, 

 and the whole become solidified in a concrete, formed by the cal- 

 careous mud of the kankar, aided by lime derived from the waters 

 of the river. They are therefore remanie deposits, wholly distinct 

 from the original kankar and fossihferous clay beds through which 

 the stream has cut its way down. The difference was clearly made 

 out by the engineer officers employed on the removal of the shoals, 

 who distinguished the two by the names of natural and artificial 

 kankar. 



The great majority of the bones were well fossilized, and in most 

 cases petrified*. Species of the following genera were determined: 

 — Eleplias, Hippopotamus Sus, Equus, Bos, Cervus, Antilope, small 

 Rodents, Gavialis Gangeticus, and freshwater Chelonians. The 

 specimens were commonly too mutilated, and the materials then 

 available for comparison too defective, for certain specific determi- 

 nation in all eases : but among them I identified molars of the extinct 

 Elephas namadicus ; a lower jaw with teeth, and a perfect astragalus, 

 of the true Indian Hippopotamus, H. (Tetrapt^otodon) ptalceincUcus ; 

 a frag'ment of a jaw of the great fossil Buffalo of the Nerbudda, Bos 

 (Bubalus) palceindicus ; and jaws undistinguishable from those of the 

 living Ghavial Crocodile. Both Captain Smith and Mr. Dean, aided 

 by medical officers more or less versed in anatomy, thought that 

 they had encountered human bones among the Jumna fossils ; and 

 this opinion was published at the time in an Indian scientific journal ; 

 but the identifications were negatived by Dr. Pearson and Dr. Evans, 

 then etii'ators of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ; and , 

 on submitting the specimens to a close examination several years 

 afterwards, I could discover no detei-minable human bones among 

 them. 



Another observation was made by Captain Smith, upon which he 

 was professionally competent to give an opinion with authority — 

 namely, that some of the fossil bones " were dug from depths of 6 

 to 18 inches in the firm shoal, which is composed of substances {sic), 



* Mr. James Prinsep examined one of the fossil bones of the Jumna, which 

 on a rough analysis yielded the following results: — 



Phosphate and carbonate of lime . 17'5 



Water 60 



Red oxide of iron with alumina . . 76-5 



100-0 



