160 Exhibition of Fossils collected by Mr. Cochburn. [Nov., 



in^s in Science," where it is recorded that, at the meeting of the Asiatic 

 Society held on the 1st August, 1828, a letter was read from Dr. Leslie 

 to Dr. Duncan mentioning the occurrence of fossil bones of an elephant 

 at Calpee (Kalpi) on the Jumna. The extract can be seen printed in 

 full as a footnote on p. 623 of Vol. II of the Society's Journal. 



The next reference is the paper to which the extract referred to 

 is appended as a footnote. It is entitled : " Notes on the Kankar Formation 

 and Fossil Bones collected on the Jumna, by Capt. E. Smith, Bengal 

 Engineers." This paper deals mainly with the kankar, but a fact is re- 

 corded with reference to the occurrence of the fossil bones which ex- 

 plains the strongly contrasted mineralization of different specimens among 

 Mr. Cockburn's specimens. Capt. Smith describes the fossils as occurring 

 partly in gravel cemented by kankar, which was evidently of recent 

 origin as it contained fragments of brick, &c, but others were obtained 

 from the alluvial clays, and these he remarks were much more perfect 

 in their state of preservation than the first mentioned, which he hardly 

 seems inclined to regard as true fossils. The paper is illustrated by a 

 plate of rough sketches of some of the fossils, which in the explanation 

 are identified as elephant, camel (?), horse, buffalo and human (?). 



In Vol. IV of the Journal there are no less than four papers 

 bearing on this point. Two of these are by one Serjeant Edmund Dean, 

 who seems to have been a shrewd observer ; and, where he merely de- 

 scribes facts observed, his descriptions are probably trustworthy ; nor are 

 his deductions, considering his necessarily limited education, so much 

 more wrong than those current in his days, as one might not unnatur- 

 ally expect. His paper is, however, for our present purpose chiefly 

 valuable as clearly describing the process of formation of the kankar 

 banks from which the fossils were mainly obtained ; they are, according 

 to his description, composed of kankar and other hard material washed 

 out of the alluvium by the erosion of the stream and accumulated where 

 the current is checked, thus consisting of large accumulations of hard ma- 

 terial : and in these banks the scattered fossils of the alluvium are con- 

 centrated. Serjeant Dean was of opinion that the bones found were all 

 of recent origin ; and, though this may have been correct as regards many 

 of them, it certainly does not apply to all. 



Besides these two papers, Vol. IV contains a list of specimens 

 collected by Capt. Vicar in the Betwa river, and a plate of rough sketches 

 of fossils found in the Jumna alluvium. 



Among these is one of some Hippopotamus teeth which very closely 

 resemble those of the Sivalik H. palceindictis, and, as this is certainly an 

 extinct animal in India, we may regard it as a true fossil of the alluvium, 

 and by implication extend the conclusion to its companions. One of 



