﻿304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 25, 



it appears highly probable that their development has a far greater 

 range, as we shall also see to be the case with some of the other 

 groups of the fossiliferous rocks. 



From an examination of M. Jacquemont's account of his geological 

 researches in the upper parts of Kunawur, I think it almost certain 

 that he must have found Silurian fossils, as well as others of the newer 

 formations which I shall presently mention, and I hope, if these are 

 still preserved at Paris, to have an opportunity of seeing them before 

 long. 



Before passing on, I must observe the very remarkable similarity 

 of general mineral appearance that subsists between the Silurian rocks 

 of the Himalaya and of this country. The peculiar pale tint assumed 

 by many of these rocks answers most exactly to the descriptions given 

 by Sir Roderick Murchison of the Silurian districts of Wales, and the 

 characters of the concretionary limestones of both countries appear 

 equally to correspond. Even in hand-specimens the texture and ap- 

 pearance of the rocks and of the- fossil impressions are so similar that 

 they might most readily be mistaken one for the other. In pointing 

 to these resemblances, however, I would not have it supposed that I 

 should wish in any way to set up mineral character as a criterion by 

 which to decide on the age of any rock. Nevertheless, the facts, if 

 they are to be relied upon, would appear to indicate that as we see 

 the conditions of the existence of organic matter to have been gene- 

 rally similar over large areas, or even over the whole earth, during 

 the same epoch, and to have changed with the progress of time, so 

 likewise has it been with the conditions under which the mineral con- 

 stituents of the earth have been aggregated. 



The Palaeozoic strata that I had an opportunity of examining in 

 detail in situ, which I have just been describing, appear to be exclu- 

 sively Silurian, but the existence of rocks of Devonian or Carboniferous 

 age seems to be shown by one of my specimens, a fragment not found 

 in situ, which contains a Froductus. I may here be allowed to re- 

 peat that, the higher portions of the Silurian rocks being usually 

 found at elevations of 17,000 or 18,000 feet, their examination is not 

 a very easy task, and the difficulties occasioned by the great altitude 

 are infinitely aggravated by the confusion into which the beds are 

 thrown by the vast dislocations that have accompanied the elevation 

 of these mountains. 



In concluding my remarks on the Palaeozoic beds I would observe, 

 that as a general rule, to which, however, there are no doubt many 

 exceptions, these rocks are to be found forming the summits of the 

 highest Passes between the British provinces of Kumaon and Garhwal 

 and Tibet, which probably average 18,000 feet in elevation, and that 

 the highest points of the ridges on which these Passes are found not 

 unfrequently reach nearly 20,000 feet in altitude (see Section No. 2). 



In proceeding along the section, we shall next observe some beds 

 very remarkable from their apparently close similarity to the Mus- 

 chelkalk of Europe. I can now only regret, that, not having been 

 sufficiently aware of their importance, their exact relation to the beds 

 below them has not been better made out ; but their position in the 



