ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. CX 



tMs paper. The author gives the following series in descending 

 order : — 



1. Upper sandstone series (Panna or Punna sandstone of Dr. 



Carter) . 



2. Laminated series. Kattra shales of Dr. Carter. 



a. xlrenaceous, carbonaceous, or bituminous, 300 feet thick in 



Nagpur, 2000 in Bengal. 



b. Argillaceous shales, green, red, blue, and white, with tracks of 



reptiles and worms. 



c. Limestone, compact or crystalline. 



3. Lower sandstone series. Tara sandstone of Dr. Carter ; not 



developed in Nagpur. 



I may add, that, as the Indian Government have just sanctioned 

 the construction of a branch railway to Nagpur from the Bombay 

 main line, we may look forward, at no very distant period, to some 

 valuable information on this subject. The resident engineer of the 

 line, who is a member of this Society, has promised to collect all the 

 information in his power on the geology of Western India. 



In another district the railway operations have already borne fruit. 

 I find in the Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin, amongst 

 other papers of great interest, an account of a hasty examination of 

 the Nerbudda Valley in Central India by Mr. Arthur Jacob. The 

 coal-formations and iron-deposits have been long known to exist in 

 this part of India, and Mr. Jacob's object in visiting them was to 

 ascertain the feasibility of establishing an iron-manufacture in that 

 district. In doing this he has done good geological services. The coal 

 occurs in sandstone beds, and is sometimes much inclined, in places 

 dipping almost vertically. The iron also occurs in veins and nodules 

 of red haematite, in the sandstone which is probably Oolitic, but some- 

 times also in the basalt. With regard to the age of the Bengal coal- 

 fields, it appears from the reports lately sent home by Mr. Oldham that 

 they too must be considered as belonging to the Mesozoic rather than 

 to the Palaeozoic period. 



America. — I must not omit to direct your attention to the sketch 

 of the geology of Canada by Messrs. Logan and Hunt, printed at 

 Paris for the purpose of explaining the geological map and the col- 

 lection of minerals sent by the Canadian Government to the Universal 

 Exposition of Paris. It is accompanied by an admirable reduction of 

 the map in question. 



From this notice it appears that below the Lower Silurian system 

 which contains the lowest fossiliferous beds, there are found two un- 

 conformable Azoic systems ; the lowest of them is the Laurentian 

 System, consisting of highly crystalline sedimentary beds, and pro- 

 bably corresponding with the gneiss of Finland and Scandinavia. 

 They are chiefly gneissoid or hornblendic schists, with some felspathic 

 porphyries and quartzites, associated vdth crystalline limestones, which 

 appear to have been in a state of fusion, and to have undergone 

 great pressure, having been forced into the fissures of the neigh- 

 bouring siliceous beds. Besides these stratified beds, granites, 



VOL. XII. h 



