A DESCRIPTION 



OF THE 



FOSSIL EOHINOIDEA 



OP THE 



COAST OF BILTJCHISTAN 



AND OF 



SOME ISLANDS IN THE PERSIAN GULF. 



THE MAKRAN SERIES (PLIOCENE). 



Plates LVI.-LYIII. 



I. Introductory BemarJcs. 



We owe the description of the geology of the coast of Biluchistan, or, as it is more 

 commonly called, the Makran coast, and the collection of fossils, to Mr. W. T. Blanford, 

 F.R.S., who, whilst Deputy Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, surveyed 

 the littoral tracts of Biluchistan and the coast of Persia *. He stated f that " the 

 prevailing rock along the Makran coast is a pale grey clay more or less indurated, 

 occasionally intersected by veins of gypsum, usually sandy and often calcareous, 

 occurring in beds of great thickness. With this clay are interstratified bands of shelly 

 limestone, calcareous grit, and sandstone, but these usually form but a small portion of 

 the mass, although their greater hardness makes them conspicuous at the surface. 



" In all sea-cliffs and inland scarps the clay is well exposed : thus the magnificent 

 cliff, nearly 2000 feet high, at Ras Malan is almost entirely composed of it. From its 

 * Records of the Gaol. Survey of India, vol. v. 1872, pt. 2, p. 41. t Page 43. 



3 E 



