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IV. — Observations on certain Fossiliferous Beds in Southern India. 

 By C. T. KAYE, Esq., F.G.S., of the Madras Civil Service. 



[Read June 29th, 1842.] 



Pondicherry. 



W. 



Red sand. Fossiliferous limestone. Red sand and Black granite. 



silicified wood. 



SKETCH OF THE COUNTRY NEAR PONDICHERRY. 



IHE fossiliferous beds which form the subject of the following paper occupy po- 

 sitions at some distance from each other. The first and most interesting of them 

 is situated in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry. The silicified wood, found in the 

 adjacent sandstones, has long been known to the inhabitants of that part of the 

 country, from the fine polish which it admits of and its capability of being formed 

 into ornaments ; but the beds of limestone which have furnished the material for 

 the pavement for the streets of Pondicherry, and which lie within seven miles of 

 the French capital in India, have almost entirely escaped observation. 



Pondicherry itself, as well as Madras, is situated on a very recent formation of 

 loose sand, which extends for a considerable distance along the eastern coast 

 of India, and which in many cases contains marine shells in such abundance that 

 they are dug up and burnt for lime. I have obtained specimens from a spot about 

 thirty miles from Pondicherry and ten from the coast. They are all shells such as 

 now inhabit the Indian seas, and consist of — 1. Pyrula vespertilio ; 2. Purpura cari- 

 nifera ; 3. Car'dita antiquata ; 4. Pullastra ; 5. an undescribed species of Cytherea ; 

 6. Area granosa ; 7. Area rhombea. This formation is usually bounded by granite, 

 which comes to the surface at Sadras, Madras, and many other places along the 

 coast. Immediately behind the town of Pondicherry, however, the recent beds 

 rest upon some low hills of red sandstone, which encloses an abundance of quartz 

 pebbles, and occasionally passes into conglomerate, but contains no fossils. Passing 

 these small hills, you come upon the bed of limestone which contains the greater 

 part of the fossils now before the Meeting. At a distance of about four miles due 



VOL. VII. SECOND SERIES. N 



