﻿1861.] 



BTJNBUItY FOSSIL PLANTS, NAGPUK. 



345 



that the vegetation of India was in those ages much more similar to 

 that of Europe than it is now. 



The absence of Palms from a deposit representing to us the vege- 

 tation of an Indian district is the more striking, because both the 

 leaves and the seeds of those plants are of a very durable nature, and 

 likely to be preserved. In the Bengal coal-field, indeed, is found a 

 Zeugophyllites, which Prof. Brongniart appears to consider as an 

 undoubted Palm ; but I can find no trace of it in the Nagpur 

 collection. 



Postscript. — Since this paper was thus far completed, I have received 

 Professor Oldham's memoir* on the geological relations of the rocks of 

 Bengal and Central India, which throws some new and important light 

 on the subjects I have been discussing. Accordingly I find it necessary 

 to correct in some points the opinions as to the geological age of 

 these fossil plants, which I have above expressed. Prof. Oldham 

 shows that the group of rocks of the Rdjmahdl Hills constitute a 

 formation quite distinct from that of the coal-bearing beds of Burd- 

 wan and some other localities ; to which latter group he applies the 

 name of the Damuda beds. He shows that the fossil vegetation of 

 the two formations is entirely different, both specifically and in 

 general aspect ; that not one species is common to the two ; that the 

 Bajmahal beds are characterized by a remarkable abundance and 

 variety of Cycadece, by a comparative paucity of Ferns, and by the ab- 

 sence, in particular, of the genus Glossopteris, as well as of Phyllotheca 

 and Vertebraria; while the Burdwan or Damuda beds are characterized 

 especially by Glossopteris, Phyllotheca, and Vertebraria, with scarcely 

 a trace of Cycads. It is evident that the Nagpur fossil flora agrees 

 altogether in these respects with that of the Damuda, and not with 

 that of the Bajmahal formation. Prof. Oldham is of opinion that 

 the Itajmahal beds are mesozoic, and probably Jurassic — the Damuda 

 beds palaeozoic. On this latter point I am not entirely prepared to 

 go along with him. I still think, for the reasons already given, that 

 the fades of this Nagpur and Burdwan flora is rather mesozoic. 

 But this is a point by no means clear, and one on which much 

 further light is yet required before we can come to a safe conclusion. 

 The paheobotanieal evidence is far from unequivocal, and, such as it 

 is, might be outweighed by the discovery of a single well-marked 

 and thoroughly characteristic fish, shell, or coral. 



I perceive that Prof. Oldham has come to the same conclusion 

 touching the so-called Vertebraria} in general at which I had already 

 arrived in relation to those of the Nagpur collection ; namely, that 

 they were roots. As he observes, they seem to have played a some- 

 what similar part, in the Bengal coal-field, to that of the Stigmaria} 

 in the coal-fields of Europe and America. 



* Memoirs of the Geological Surrey of India, vol. ii. part 2. 1860. 



