304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 13, 



mulites*, four of which, the Nummulina millecaput ov polygyratust 

 N.planospira or assilinoides , the N. crassa (Boubee), and the N.Bia- 

 ritzana (D'Arch,), are identical with widely-spread and well-known 

 forms of the South of Europe. Then again the same groups of 

 radiata, conchifera and mollusca occur as in the nummulitic eocene 

 of Europe. Some of the fossil shells of Scinde are, indeed, scarcely to 

 be distinguished from the species of the Yicentine, particularly the 

 ^o-C2S{t^Nerita conoidea (Lamk.), oxiheNeritinagrandis (Sow.), as 

 well as one or two forms of Natica, the Trochus agglutinans, &c., 

 whilst they have all a tertiary aspect, and if not identifiable with, are 

 closely related to, our South European eocene formsf . 



In comparing rocks of this epoch from distant parts of the globe, 

 the amount of coincidence in their zoological contents is very remark- 

 able, and in tracing their greater or less assimilation to our European 

 types, we find, as might be supposed, that such is in a great measure 

 dependent on the occurrence of similar or dissimilar conditions of 

 deposit. Thus, in the Vicentine on the south flank of the Alps, 

 where white limestones and marls abound, there are many more 

 species common to that tract and the basin of Paris, than on the 

 northern flank of the chain, where the deposits are more sandy 

 and earthy, though their distance from the Parisian types is much 

 smaller. Again, with the recurrence of strong resemblance to the 

 lithological character of the Paris basin in the nummulitic rocks of 

 Egypt and Scinde, we meet with a persistence of many identical or 

 analogous forms, even at those vast distances. In the eyes of the 

 geologist and palaeontologist, therefore, the eocene type of Southern 

 Europe extends through the heart of Asia, the differences in the fauna 

 being simply characteristic of formations accumulated under varying 

 conditions at the same time in distant seas. The surprise, indeed, is, 

 that through the presence of certain species of nummulites, corals, 

 echinoderms and shells, there should be so striking a resemblance 

 in these widely separated deposits of so young an age as the eocene. 



When we take the map of the world in hand, and view the enor- 

 mous range of this nummulitic formation at intervals, through tiventy- 



* The researches of Capt. Vicary were undertaken by order of Lieut.-General 

 Sir Charles Napier, after his brilliant conquest of Scinde. M. Leopold von Buch 

 long ago recognized, in a letter to myself (see also Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. vol. iv. 

 p. 542), the identity of the nummulitic formation of Southern Europe with that 

 which ranges from the Mediterranean and Egypt across Persia by Bagdad into 

 Hindostan, and I much regret to have mislaid his short but pregnant sketch. 



f Mr. Morris first examined these fossils of Scinde at my request, and seeing 

 the close analogy which they present to the nummulitic group of Europe, had pre- 

 pared a list of them. I have since submitted them to M. d'Archiac at Paris, in 

 the hope that he may describe them in detail for the Geological Society of London, 

 and compare them with the nummulitic fauna of Southern France, which he has 

 well studied. The species named, with the aid of Mr. Morris, in the Table at the 

 end as having a wide range, result in part from these examinations, and also from 

 a comparison of the corals by M. Jules Haime (the associate of M. Milne-Edwards), 

 who has stated that four species of that class derived from Scinde, are identical 

 with forms published from Nice. I may also add, that I saw in the Royal Mu- 

 seum at Turin, a Cyclorite from the mountains between Scinde and Cabul, which 

 M. Bellardi identifies with the Cyclolites Borsoni (Michelin) of Nice. 



