ESTHERIA MANGALIENSIS. 79 



S. Hislop and R. Hunter discovered in 1853 a fossiliferous sandstone, which is described 1 

 in the ' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' vol. xi, p. 370, and vol. xvii, p. 347. This sandstone 

 extends between Mangali and Mesa, near Chickni ; it is fine-grained, red in colour, some- 

 what argillaceous and micaceous, thin-bedded, and about fifteen feet thick, lying between 

 an upper and a lower sandstone, both of them coarser in texture, lighter in colour, and 

 thick-bedded. The red laminated sandstone contains Plant-remains, 3 ganoid scales and 

 small jaws of Eishes, Labyrinthodont remains (Brac/iiops laiiceps, Owen), and wide-spread, 

 thin layers of Esther ice. 



From the evidence of the organic remains found in this red sandstone at Mangali and 

 Mesa, Mr. Hislop is inclined to consider it as of the same age as the plant-bearing sand- 

 stone of Nagpur, and the coal-shales of Umret and of the south base of the Mahadewa 

 Hills, and to refer the whole to the Upper Triassic Formation (Letter, July 19th, 1861) ; 

 Messrs. Blanford and Theobald, however, of the Geological Survey of India, seem dis- 

 posed to place the Mangali beds above the plant-sandstone and coal ; and, as they 

 consider the former to be probably of Permian age, the two latter they regard as at least 

 of that age (' Quart. Journ: Geol. Soc.,' vol. xvii, pp. 347 ; and 'Mem. Geol. Surv. India,' 

 vol. i, part 1, p. 82). 



In a comprehensive memoir c On the Probable Relationships of the Strata in Central 

 and North-Eastern India' (' Memoirs Geol. Surv. India,' vol. ii, part 2, 1860, p. 333), 

 Dr. Oldham states that " the probability would seem to be that our ' Damuda System ' 

 (true Damuda Series of the accompanying table) belongs to some portion of the Upper 

 Palaeozoic division of European geological sequence, or to the lowermost portion of the 

 Mesozoic division. In fact, we may possibly hereafter find that it will represent that great 

 interval indicated by the marked separation and great break between the two series in other 

 countries." 



Of Mr. Hislop's group " B " (see p. 80), Dr. Oldham would certainly take the Umret 

 coal-series to belong to the Lower Damuda Series ; he does not think that the Kota beds 

 of fish-bearing shales and limestone are of the same age as these, but higher in the 

 geologic scale, in which opinion Mr. Hislop coincides. (Letter of July 19th, 1861 ; and 

 ' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' vol. xviii, p. 36.) 



To show at a glance the present state of opinion as to the relationships of the Indian 

 strata above referred to, I insert a synoptical table, comprising the classifications adopted 

 by Dr. Carter, by the Rev. Messrs. Hislop and Hunter, and by Dr. Oldham and his col- 

 leagues of the Geological Survey of India. 



1 For the particulars of the geology of the Nagpur district, in Central India, where these sandstones 

 and other strata of great interest occur, see Mr. Hislop's memoirs in the ' Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bombay,' 

 vol. v, pp. 58 and 148 ; vol. xxiv, p. 347 ; and in the 'Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' vol. x, p. 472 ; vol. xi, 

 pp. 345 and 555 ; and vol. xvii, p. 346, &c. 



2 Knorria (?) or the stem of a Conifer ; Stigmaria (?) or the rhizome of a Fern ; Phyllotheca (?), 

 stems, &c. 



