FALCONER ON THE PERIM ISLAND FOSSILS. 365 



order, from all of which they appear to be more removed than 

 from the Sivatherium and Giraffe. The molars of the Ruminantia 

 generally are formed so much upon the same plan, that it is not 

 easy to draw sufficient generic distinctions from them alone. The 

 characters presented by these Perim fossils, so far as they go, 

 certainly distinguish them from the Sivatherium, and also from 

 the giraffes, fossil and recent, but their nearest affinity appears to 

 be with the latter genus : and they probably belong to the same 

 family. The materials presented here, as in the case of the 

 Dinotherium, are much too scanty at present for any conclusive 

 opinion on the subject. Meanwhile, under the conviction of the 

 generic distinctness of the Perim Ruminant, I propose considering 

 it as a genus under the name of Bramatherium*, with the spe- 

 cific title of B. Perimense, to mark the rich and interesting fossil 

 locality where it was found. 



The Dinotherium, Giraffe, and Bramatlierium are the only Perim 

 fossils which it is intended to particularise by description" in this 

 communication. But Captain Fulljames's collection includes speci- 

 mens of a great many other forms, which prove that the clay 

 conglomerates of the Gulf of Cambay contain entombed in them 

 the remains of a very extensive and varied fauna. Among them 

 there occurs one species of Mastodon, one of Elephant, a large 

 species of Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Sus, Equus, several species 

 of Antelope, Bos, two species of Crocodile, one of which is of the 

 Gavial type ; several forms of fresh-water Tortoises, with fish 

 vertebras two and a half to three inches in diameter. These will 

 be noticed in detail, in the work upon which Captain Cautley and 

 myself are engaged, on the fossil fauna of the Sewalik Hills. The 

 principal point of interest about them, requiring mention on this 

 occasion, is, that the mass of the Perim fossils belong to the same 

 genera and species which are found in the Sew^alik Hills, and in 

 the ossiferous beds of the Irawaddi in Ava. We have thus con- 

 clusive proof that, in the later tertiary period, as at present, one 

 and the same vertebrate fauna ranged from the banks of the 

 Irawaddi, on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, 1700 

 miles up along the foot of the Himalayahs, to the Indus, where 

 it escapes from these mountains, and thence across the continent 

 to the western side of India. We are now getting the first glimpse 

 of the evidence, regarding the range and distribution of the 

 species. Some, as at present, were common over the whole ex- 

 tent of country, while others appear to have been limited to, or 

 had their force of development in a particular tract. The pre- 

 vailing species of Mastodon from Perim is identical with one of 

 the forms described by Mr. Clift, under the name of M. latiaens, 

 in his excellent memoir in the Geol. Transact., 2d. Ser. vol. ii. 



* The name Sivatherium, derived from the Hindoo God Siva, having been 

 admitted for one great fossil Ruminant from India, Bramatherium, derived from 

 the God Bramah, may conveniently be applied to another : the ordinal relation- 

 ship of the two will thus be easily remembered, together with their common 

 Indian origin. 



