Ixvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



rises on the south side of the range of which we have here the section, 

 and the Sutlej in the deep longitudinal valley on the northern side, 

 the distance between the points at which they leave the mountains 

 being about 200 miles. It is to a portion of this intervening district, 

 extending from the northern boundary of the plains of India for about 

 120 miles in breadth, that the observations of the author have been 

 principally restricted. The section runs S.S.W. to N.N.E. 



The southern extremity of this section meets the great plain of 

 India at an elevation of 1200 feet above the sea, the maximum height 

 of the plain. It here constitutes the watershed between the valleys of 

 the Indus and the Ganges. It seems scarcely conceivable that the 

 deposits of this plain should be otherwise than marine, although the 

 opinion has not yet been confirmed, it seems, by the discovery of 

 marine remains. The Siwalik Hills, forming a sub-Himalayan range, 

 appear to extend almost uninterruptedly from the Sutlej to the meri- 

 dian of Calcutta. Along the line of section they dip towards the 

 mountains at an angle of about 5°. The author could not discover 

 any fossils which might determine their age more definitely than 

 has been done already by the discoveries of Dr. Falconer and Captain 

 Cautley. 



Proceeding further N.W., Captain Strachey finds a series of old 

 non-fossiliferous rocks of enormous thickness, reaching generally the 

 height of 14,000 feet. They consist of metamorphic beds, crystalline 

 schists, limestones, conglomerates, &c., and are for the most part 

 distinctly stratified. The mean strike appears to coincide accurately 

 with the direction of the chain ; the dip is most frequently inwards, 

 N.N.W., although with not unfrequent instances of exactly the 

 opposite dip. The whole thus presents a series of anticlinal and 

 synclinal lines ; but with the portions of the beds dipping S.S.W. 

 much shorter, estimated in the direction of the section, than those 

 dipping N.N.E. All the great lines of eruptive rock appear to coin- 

 cide with the direction of the strike of the beds. 



At the height of aboat 14,000 feet, the author came upon a series 

 of fossiliferous strata, which are clearly proved by the fossils to be 

 Lower Silurian. A list is given of a considerable number of the fos- 

 sils, which have been identified with the characteristic fossils of those 

 strata in our own region. The author could only verify the existence 

 of these beds for about 50 miles longitudinally ; but there can be no 

 doubt of their wide development along this magnificent range. Their 

 height in this part of it appears to be from 14,000 to 18,000 or 

 20,000 feet. 



These Palaeozoic beds seem to be terminated along the line of sec- 

 tion by a great fault, to which succeed beds with the character of the 

 Muschelkalk of Europe. Here a considerable number of shells was 

 found, among which were Ceratites^ Goniatites, Ammonites, Sjf(iri- 

 fer, Pecten, Terebratula, and Pholadomya. The relative position of 

 these beds, however, with reference to the beds below, was not so 

 well made out as in other cases. In ascending order, beds come next 

 which appear to represent the Jurassic series, but the representative 

 of the Lias appeared to be wanting. Above these again are dark- 



