412 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 26, 



species of these rocks belongs to the Gault or Gres-verts. We find, 

 among other species, Nautilus elegans, A. injlatus, A. BotJiomagensis, 

 A. Mantelli, Scapliites obliquus and S. c^qualis, Turrilites Bergeri and 

 T.costatus,Anisoceras armatum,&c.; in fact, such characteristic fossils 

 as cannot be mistaken, and which are known from nearly every part 

 of the globe where any Cretaceous deposits have been traced. It 

 is equally well known from the researches of the late D.D. Owen, 

 Meek and Hayden, Shumard, Sable, and other geologists and pa- 

 laeontologists, that a true equivalent of the European Neocomian 

 does not exist in North America *, and that the lowest Cretaceous 

 deposits there answer chiefly to the Gault. Equally is it remarked by 

 the North American geologists, that the uppermost Cretaceous strata, 

 known as White Chalk (with flints), and strata of Maestricht and 

 Eiigen, are either very obscurely or not at all developed. It seems 

 to be similarly the case with the Indian deposits. 



I may as well notice here that similar conclusions have been 

 drawn from the investigations in South America by Mr. Darwin, 

 Mr. Domeyko, M. d'Orbigny, and others, and also from the exami- 

 nation of Cretaceous fossils from South Africa through Mr. Baily. In 

 North Africa, namely in Algeria, M. Coquand accounts for nearly all 

 the European Cretaceous divisions, which within the last few years 

 have increased to a considerable number. 



So far it is certain that the lowest Cretaceous beds in South India 

 have a Middle Cretaceous character, and that this character is strongly 

 marked even in the two upper divisions. As already stated, the 

 number of Cephalopoda from the Trichinopoly and Arrialoor groups 

 is too small for any decisive opinion to be formed. We must leave 

 the question until we see from the examination of the other fossils 

 whether their indicated independence (of course within certain 

 limits) will be confirmed, as expected, or whether it will become 

 more obliterated. At the present moment there is no objection to 

 the opinion that the Indian Cretaceous deposits, according to Mr. 

 H. P. Blanford's survey, can be separated into three groups, of 

 which the lowest is of the age of the European Gault, and of which 

 the uppermost does not seem to answer to a higher division than 

 D'Orbigny's Senonien. Probably, when we have a better palseon- 

 tological basis, we may be able, after a detailed survey of the 

 country, to distinguish several divisions of the middle group, as 

 they have been lately with some favour adopted, especially by 

 French geologists. 



* Vide also Dana's ' Mauual of Geology,' p. 467. 



