Remarks on Mr. Fraser's Journey fr 0711 Delhi to Bomhaij. 161 



Europe; — and the sketch of the heights, Plate XXIV. fig-. 2, might have 

 been taken to represent a portion of the coast of Antrim in Ireland. These 

 heights in fact consist of successive alternations of basalt and amygdaloid ; and 

 the effects of decay, upon a series of beds which differ so considerably in firm- 

 ness and durability, have produced, in India, as elsewhere, those external fea- 

 tures, from whence, it is well known, the term Trap was originally applied to 

 rocks of this description *. 



The map, Plate XXIV. exhibits in one view the principal parts of India 

 which have formed the subjects of communications hitherto presented to the 

 Geological Society : and it must be very gratifying to perceive, notwithstand- 

 ing the small number of the persons to whom the Society is indebted for these 

 contributions, that a body of information has already been obtained suffi- 

 cient to point out some of the leading geological features of that vast country, 

 and to suggest to future inquirers several interesting subjects for more detailed 

 research. The general resemblance of the fossils from the north-east of Ben- 

 gal to those of the formations above the chalk in England ; — the geological 

 characters and organized contents of the great flat country on the east of 

 central India, along the Ganges and its tributary streams ; — the relations of the 

 lime-stones of Silhet, Laour, and Robagiri, andof Neemuclvand Bang already 

 alluded to; — and the coal formation on the banks of the Tista and Subuk 

 rivers, are all of this description ; while the specimens from the Sutluj, where 

 that river traverses the Himalaya mountains, establish the identity of the 

 rocks composing that stupendous chain, with those of the primary ranges in 

 all other parts of the world hitherto examined. 



The map is partially coloured, for the purpose of designating some of 

 the tracts referred to and described in the present Volume, and in the fifth 

 Volume of the Transactions of the Society : which contain also, — besides the 

 papers relating to the portion of India included in the map, — a memoir of 

 Dr. Davy on the Island of Ceylon ; of Mr. B. Babington, on the route from 

 Tellicherry to Madras ; and a notice by Mr. Jack, on the Islands of Penang 

 and Singapore. — These valuable contributions from the most important of 

 the British colonies, are, it is to be hoped, an earnest of the geological in- 

 formation that may be expected by this Society from the continued activity of 

 its members, and of other British subjects, who are engaged in the service of 

 their country in distant quarters of the globe. 



* Trap in the Dutch language (Swedish Trappa — German Trappe) signifies stairs^ — a stair- 

 case. The word Trap is applied in a similar sense in some of the English coal -districts, to 

 Faults, where portions of the strata are elevated or depressed. 

 VOL. VI. Y 



