552 J. G. Malcolmson, Esq., on the Fossils of 



On descending towards Hutnoor, granite, presenting a concentric, ligni- 

 form surface, from the unequal decomposition of the quartz and felspar, oc- 

 curs at a short distance from the fossils*. With this exception, the basalt 

 continues of the same character as before, and fragments of red or deep 

 black chert, containing Paludinse, are found in the beds of torrents ; and at 

 Hutnoor they occur in the trap. There is much calcareous matter mixed 

 with the soil, or collected in nodules, and it appears to be derived from the 

 lime contained in the basalt, or between its laminse. On the pioneers at- 

 tached to our camp penetrating, at Elchoda, through some strata of tabular 

 basalt to obtain water for the troops, seams of a pure white, pulverulent lime 

 were found between the layersf . At Hutnoor fragments of a compact blue 

 limestone, not to be distinguished from that of the diamond districts, were 

 collected; and the rock to which they belonged^ was found in the descent from 

 the first of the three principal terraces by which the road leads to the north- 

 ern base of the hills. The strata were much inclined and broken, but the 

 forest was so thick, that I could not trace them for any distance. After de- 

 scending to the second terrace, the surface rock suddenly changes to a white, 

 horizontally-stratified limestone, almost entirely composed of large bivalve 

 shells, the edges of which decomposing more slowly than the cement, the 

 natives have applied to it a name signifying impressions made in clay by the 

 feet of sheep. The thickness of the bed in one place, where it is intersected by 

 a torrent, is 12 feet, and it rests directly on red granite. A great spur, from 

 the upper part of the mountain, extends across the terrace, rising precipitously 

 above the fossiliferous limestone, a few hundred yards from the spot where it 

 rests on granite; and has buried the continuation of the stratum under an accu- 

 mulation of basaltic debris. Where the limestone becomes concealed in the 

 basalt, a friable, gray, cellular mass, resembling ashes, occurs, apparently im- 

 bedded in both these rocks. The fossils are composed of granular limestone, 

 the matrix consisting of calcareous matter mixed with the ash-like substance, 

 and small fragments of granite. Some of the shells are of great size, but they are 

 ill preserved, and I found only one specimen with the valves united. These 

 shells, I erroneously considered to be marine (principally from the appear- 

 ance of those represented in Plate XLVIL, fig. 4 to 8, and some of the 

 large flattened specimens). Mr. Lonsdale, however, who had the kindness to 

 examine some of them, considered their general character to be that of fresh- 

 water species. I had previously detected, in a fragment of a compact argillo- 



* A similar appearance has been observed at the foot of the Nirmul pass, at the iron mines of 

 Deemdoortee, and in Bundlecund. 



t The same was observed in Bundlecund by Capt. Franklin. (Asiatic Researches, vol. xviii.) 



