248 THE FOSSIL ECUINOIDEA ' 



pulcherrima, d'Achiardi, from Friuli ; Trochosmilia varicosa, Eeuss, from Crosara ; and 

 Styloccenia taurinensis, Ed. & H., and Cycloseris Perizi, Ed. & H., from the same, or a 

 slightly higher horizon in the instance of the Stylocoenioe. On the whole, the Coral-fauna 

 was littoral and stunted. 



It was the belief of the distinguished authors of the ' Geology of India ' that the 

 Nari group was, palseontologically as well as stratigraphically, in a position intermediate 

 between the Khirthar and the Gaj groups. The results of our work in the palaeon- 

 tology of the Corals and the Echinoidea quite confirm this view ; but it is necessary to 

 modify some of the statements made in the ' Geology of India ' regarding the vertical 

 range of some of the species mentioned therein. The following is the resume given by 

 Messrs. Medlicott and Blanford, op. cit. p. 462: — "Although some species pass 

 from the Khirthar, and even from the Ranikot group, into the Nari beds, the fauna is 

 chiefly distinct and marks a higher horizon. The most marked change is perhaps in 

 the Foraminifera, because they are so abundant and characteristic: whole beds of 

 limestone towards the base of the Nari group being entirely made up of Nummulites 

 Garansensis, N. suhlcBvigata, and Orbitoides papyracea, the last-named frequently of 

 large size, some specimens being two to three inches in diameter ; yet every species is 

 distinct from those occurring in the Khirthar group. One of the species of Nummu- 

 lites, N. Garansensis, is of importance, because it appears in Europe, as in Sind, in the 

 highest strata characterized by the abundance of the genus, those beds being at the 

 base of the Miocene. N. suhlcevigata is peculiar, so far as is known, to India. Several 

 of the MoUusca and Echinodermata of the Nari beds also — such as Siliquaria Granti, 

 Solarium affine, Yenus granosa, and Clypeaster profundus — show distinctly Miocene 

 affinities, and some of these pass up into the Gaj group. But at the same time there 

 are so many Eocene forms present, such as Natica patula, N. sigaretina, Ostrea fiahel- 

 lula, Voluta jugosa, &c., that it is somewhat difficult to decide to which subdivision the 

 Nari beds should be assigned. They may perhaps occupy an intermediate position, 

 similar to that of the Oligocene of continental geologists." 



We find that the Echinoidea of the Nari group are very characteristic, and that 

 only one reliable species of the collection sent to us passes up into the Gaj group, viz. 

 Schizaster Granti, nobis, which is the common Schizaster of the Miocene of Kachh and 

 Kattywar, and which can be readily mistaken for S. Baluchistanensis, d'Arch. & Haime. 

 This last-mentioned Schizaster is not found in the Nari beds. Euspatangus rostratus, 

 d'Arch., is common in the Khirthar group aind in the Nari beds, but the Clypeasters of 

 the Nari group are peculiar. 



There is a mutilated specimen of a variety of Ccelopleurus Forbesi, d'Arch. & Haime, 

 in the Nari collection ; and if it is really a Nari form, which is a matter of doubt, this 

 species must be included in the Nari fauna. But in Kachh it is only found in the Miocene. 



The existence of an Oligocene series in Sind is as well established as it is in Kachh. 



Of the Echinoidea mentioned in the Survey of Sind as characteristic of the Nari 



group, only one really is so. The forms which were collected should come under 



other names ; for those given to them arose from conscientious attempts to .identify 



specimens with the descriptions of MM. d'Archiac and Haime. 



