356 On the roclcs of the Damuda group. [No. 1. 



stance that most of the best seams occur in a group of rocks unre- 

 presented in other fields. It is not known to which group the beds 

 of Palamo Bimghar or* Central India belong. 



Above the Damuda beds, and slightly unconformable upon them, 

 occurs a series of coarse false bedded sandstones, with intercalations 

 of red and grey clays, passing into shale in places. These beds are 

 mainly developed in the Southern portion of the Raniganj field, where 

 they form the mass of the fine hill of Panchit (Pachete), whence the 

 name of Panchit series is suggested for them. The upper part of Pan- 

 chit Beharinath and G-aranji hills are composed of a coarse conglo- 

 merate, differing in mineral character from the lower portion of the 

 formation. 



This lower portion is of considerable interest, for, besides plants, 

 the first distinct animal remains yet discovered in Bengal have been 

 procured from them. These consist of various biconcave vertebrae 

 and other bones, jaws and teeth, apparently reptilian, and of a small 

 crustacean allied to iEstheria. The plants include, besides numerous 

 peculiar forms, the Schizonema ? so characteristic of the Baniganj 

 series. 



The iEstherias appear identical with those found by Mr. Hislop 

 in the Mangali shales of Nagpur. Prom these shales was also pro- 

 cured a reptile, Brachiops laticeps of Owen, belonging to the same 

 group as the Labyrinthodon. It seems probable that the Mangali 

 shales are the representatives of the Panchits of Bengal. The Upper 

 Damudas of Jabbalpur may also be of the same age. 



In the Bajmahal hills the Lower Damudas are unconformably over- 

 laid by a series of grits, conglomerates, and white clays. Above 

 these, also unconformably, occur enormous flows of basaltic trap, 

 with interstratifications of white and black shales, abounding in plants 

 of the genera Zamites, Pterophyllum, Pecopteris, Tceniopteris, &e. 



* Beds containing plants of Damuda age occur also at the base of the Hima- 

 layas of Sikkim, a circumstance first noted by Dr. Hooker, in his " Himalayan 

 Journals," Vol. I. p. 403, and confirmed by myself in 1856. Nothing however 

 could be made out of the extent of the beds, which are distinct from those con- 

 taining coal on the Tista river. The only evidence of the existence of Damudas 

 were specimens of glossoptcris and vertebraria found in loose blocks in a stream 

 below Pankabari. 



