ALCYONARIA OF SIND. 5 



In this Laki range, however, beneath the Nummulitic limestone, the Lower Eocene 

 and Cretaceous beds just noticed are' well exposed. 



" In the south-western portion of the province the weU-marked breaks between the 

 different subdivisions of the Tertiary series can no longer be traced. The massive 

 Nummulitic limestone, so conspicuous to the northward, becomes broken up into thinner 

 beds intercalated with clays and sands, and finally disappears, and the higher Tertiary 

 groups all tend to pass into each other. 



" The lowest bed seen in the province, the Hippuritic Limestone, has only been 

 found in one spot, and there the outcrop does not occupy much more than about half 

 a mile in length. The only recognizable fossil found was a Hippurite. It is probable 

 that this limestone is identical with the Cretaceous limestone, which occupies a large 

 area in Persia, and which has been traced at intervals, from south-east of Karman to the 

 neighbourhood of Tehran. If so, this is the first time that the formation has been 

 recognized in India, except in the Himalayas. The bed consists of pale-coloured hard 

 limestone, very gritty and sandy above, purer beneath. 



" Above the limestone there is a considerable thickness of dark-coloured sandstones, 

 often of a purplish tint, and frequently rather calcareous. These beds are not very fos- 

 siliferous, but towards the top they contain oysters and a few bones, apparently reptilian." 



* " The highest subdivision of the Cretaceous formation consists of soft olive shales 

 and sandstones, usually of fine texture. The sandstone beds are thin, and frequently 

 have the appearance of containing grains of decomposed basalt or some similar volcanic 

 rock, or else fine volcanic ash. A few hard bands occur, and occasionally, but rarely, 

 thin layers of dark olive or drab impure limestone. Gypsum is of common occurrence 

 in the shales. 



"Palaeontology. — The olive shales are highly fossiliferous, the commonest fossil 

 being Cardita Beaumonti, a peculiar, very globose species, truncated posteriorly, and 

 most nearly allied to forms found in the lower and middle Cretaceous beds of Europe 

 (Neocomian and Gault). This shell is extremely abundant in one bed, about 200 to 250 

 feet below the top of the Cretaceous series, but is not confined to this horizon. Wautili 

 also occur, the commonest species closely resembling 2V^. LabecTiei of Messrs. d'Archiac 

 and Haime, but differing in the position of the siphuncle. This form appears undis- 

 tinguishable from N. Bouchardianus, found in the upper Cretaceous Arialur beds of 

 Pondicherry, and at a lower Cretaceous horizon in Europe. A second Nautilus 

 resembles N. subfleuriausianus, another Eocene Sind species, in form, and is also allied 

 to some Cretaceous types. Several Gasteropoda occur, especially forms oiRostMaria, 

 Cyprcea, Natica, and Turritella, but none are very characteristic. Two forms of Ostrea 

 are common — one of them allied to the Tertiary 0. Flemingi and to the Cretaceous 

 0. Zitteliana, but distinct from both. The only moUusk which certainly passes into 

 the Ranikot beds is Corhula Harpa. Two Echinoderms have been found — one is an 

 Epiaster, an almost exclusively Cretaceous genus, only one or two Tertiary species 



* Prom 'A Manual of the Geology of India,' by Messrs. Medlicott and "W. T. Blanf ord, P.Q-.S., 

 vol. iii. p. 449 ; also Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. xvii. pt. 1 ; Blanf ord, Geology of 

 "Western Sind, 1879. 



