2 THE FOSSIL COEALS AND 



and was surprised to find that several species had not been described ; moreover, the study 

 of these forms left the impression on his mind that other Tertiary deposits besides the 

 Nummulitic exist in Sind. The results of this re-examination were published in the 

 ' Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,' 1864, vol. xx., and the new species were 

 described and delineated in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' April 1864. 

 The list of species was then increased to forty-two in number, and some were stated to 

 be of Miocene age, and others were considered possibly to be Pliocene in date. The 

 communication to the Geological Society was made at the instance of Mr. H. M. 

 Jenkins, F.G.S., and it appeared in confirmation of his belief that the Tertiaries of a 

 vast area in the East, including those of Java, were Eocene and Miocene in age. 



But the greatest interest excited by the labours of MM. d'Archiac and Jules 

 Haime was in relation to the increased importance of the Nummulitic coral-fauna. 

 Slight as was their addition to it, they helped to remove the impression that the early 

 Tertiary ages were uncoralliferous. Since the publication of their great work, the 

 magnificent coral-fauna of the Eocene of Western Europe has been shown to form but 

 a part of a great development of coral-life, which left its evidences especially in those 

 Alpine regions whose fossils have been so a,bly described by the late A. E. Eeuss and 

 by Catullo and D'Achiardi. The Eocene coral-fauna of the West-Indian islands, 

 described by the author of this Monograph, added interesting forms to the fauna. 



Now that the Tertiary strata of Sind have been examined by the Geological Survey 

 of India, and the corals have been carefully collected from localities whose stratigra- 

 phical position has been ascertained, the older Tertiary coral-fauna is very considerably 

 increased. In fact, the Nummulitic strata, divided or not into Eocene and Oligocene, 

 contain a coral-fauna as important as that of the Miocene age. 



Not only has the examination of the fossil corals lately obtained by the Geological 

 Survey of India from Sind added to the numbers of the Eocene species, but it also 

 indicates that there is an upper series of coralliferous strata which merits the title of 

 Oligocene. Again, other species clearly prove, what was formerly suggested was 

 probably the case, that an important Miocene coral-fauna lived on the same area as 

 that which had been previously occupied by the earlier Tertiary forms. 



Amongst the collection of corals from Sind, the result of the careful labour of the 

 Geological Survey under Medlicott and W. T. Blanford and Fedden, is a small 

 series which was found on a lower geological horizon than the Nummulitic rocks. They 

 required careful study, for the Cretaceous formation seems to merge into that of Lower 

 Tertiary age in Sind. 



II. The Origin of the Collection about to he described. 



A very large number of specimens of the fossil Corals which had been collected in 

 Sind were sent to the author of this Monograph by the kind direction of the Superin- 

 tendent and Deputy-Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India. He has made 

 the Corals and Alcyonaria his careful study, and their description forms his contribu- 

 tion to the Palseontology of India. 



