640 Note on the Fossil Palms, [Dec. 



be easily broken off, clearly shews how little the abrasion must 

 have been. That however their present site is not their original one, 

 seems now to be further confirmed by the discovery of a bed of fossil 

 shells (univalves reversed), only distant about half a mile, and ap- 

 parently in a continuation of the same limestone bed as that on which 

 these palm-trees lie*. In the one case, however, the calcareous for- 

 mation forms the surface soil, whereas in the latter it is covered by 17 

 feet of hard and soft basalt. 



The discovery of these shells was made, as discoveries of the kind 

 usually are, by accident, at the foot of the trap hills beside which the 

 Jabalpur road runs ; a well had been dug some 14 years ago, and with 

 the stones turned out of it a small hut had been erected. It was in a 

 lump of the out-turned limestone deposit (travertine), a large shell was 

 observed, and inquiry discovered the original locale of it to have been 

 the centre of the well ; the sides of the well had been built up with red 

 sandstone, and it was necessary to sink a shaft beside it to get at an 

 accurate knowledge of the site. I caused specimens of the different 

 strata to be preserved, at the same time noting their depth respectively : 

 a sample of each stratum, as well as specimens of the fossils, I have had 

 the pleasure of forwarding for the museum of the Society. I am unable 

 satisfactorily to determine whether the shells are of marine or terrestrial 

 origin. The opinion here is that they are marine : a striking peculiarity 

 in them is that they are all reversed, and some are much more flattened 

 than others. 



The surface soil, (No. 1) as well as Nos. 2, 3 and 4, are well marked, 

 and the transition from one to the other is as abrupt and sudden as the 

 specimens furnished. No. 5 is not so well marked. I have called it 

 wacke. It pervades as a sub-soil a large portion of the trap soil about 

 Sdgar. A coarse analysis which I made of some from a well about a 

 mile from the fossil well, gave me 



Specific Gravity, 3,600. 



Loss by drying, 34 



Magnesia, 18 



Alumina, « 



"\ Peroxyde iron, 30 



Siliceous sand, 100 



LLoss, 4 



200 



* The annexed topographical sketch (Plate XXVI), which I am enabled to furnish 

 through the kindness of Capt. Macdonald, of the trigonometrical survey, will 

 convey a better idea of the locale of the two sites than any written description. 



200 parts, ^ 



