PLANT-BEARING SERIES OF INDIA. 521 



group* in the absence of SphenopTiyllum (Trizygia of Boyle), and of 

 a species of JSchizoneura that is very abundant in the upper group 

 and characteristic of it ; while an allied form, which does not occur 

 in the Eaniganj group, is found in the Barakars. Dr. Oldham also 

 mentions that Pecopterisf, Sphenopteris, and Phylloiheca% are almost 

 wanting in the latter, while they are well represented in the former. 

 The most characteristic plants of the Eaniganj group, besides the 

 Schizoneura above mentioned, are Glossopteris Browniana, Brongn., 

 PhyUotlieca indica, Bunbury, and Vertebraria indica, Boyle. 



In the overlying Panchet group Dr. Oldham enumerates § six or 

 eight species in all, viz. ; — the genera Schizoneura, 1 species, appa- 

 rently distinct from that of the Eaniganj group ; Tamioptei'is, 1 spe- 

 cies ; Sphenopteris, 2 species ; Neuropteris (?), 1 species ; Preissleria, 

 1 species. In the upper part of the same group occur the Beptilian 

 and Amphibian remains referred by Prof. Huxley || to two new 

 genera of Labyrinthodonts, a Dicynodont, and a Thecodont saurian 

 (Ankistrodon indicus, Huxley) ; also Entomostraca, the most abun- 

 dant being an Estheria, doubtfully identified with E. mangaliensis, 

 Jones, from Central India. 



In the Eajmahal hills, the Talchir and Barakar groups are over- 

 lain by coarse sandstones (Dubrajpur group %), probably representa- 

 tive of those at the top of the Eaniganj section (the Panchets being 

 wanting) ; and on these rest, very unconformably, rocks of a distinct 

 group, the Eajmahal group, interbedded with contemporaneous trap- 

 flows, and containing the flora figured and described by Dr. Oldham 

 and Prof. Morris in the ' Palseontologia Indica'**. This flora, as is 

 well known, is characterized by the abundance of its Cycads, and is 

 quite distinct specifically, and for the most part generically, from 

 that of any of the older groups. Two of them have been identified 

 with plants from the Cutch deposits. The following generic list is 

 given by Dr. Oldham ft : — 



Equisetum 2 species 



Cyclopteris 1 „ 



Dictyopteris 2 „ 



Walchia 1 species. 



Cycadites 2 



Pterophyllum 9 



Palasozamia 8 



Stange^ites 2 



Voltzia 1 



Brachyphylluin 1 



Pecopteris 5 „ 



Sphenopteris 3 „ 



Tasniopteris 3 ,, 



Cardiocarpon 1 „ 



Lycopodites 3 ,, 



with wood of Dadoxylon, Palceoocylon, Taxoxylon, Cycads, and Di- 

 cotyledonous Angiosperms of three or four varieties. No animal 

 remains have been met with in the Eajmahal hills. 



II. In Orissa, Sirgiija, South Behar, and South Eewah, represen- 

 tatives of the Ironstone shales, Eaniganj and Panchet groups are 

 wanting. The Talchir and Barakar groups are overlain by coarse 



* W. T. Blanford, Mem. G. S. I. vol. iii. Art, 1, p. 43. 

 t Op. cit. vol. iii. p. 207. 



| Mr. W. T. Blanford, however, states {he. sup. cit.) that Thylloiheca abounds 

 throughout the Damiidti series. 



§ Op. cit. vol. iii. p. 204. || Pal. Ind. vol. iv. pt. 1. 



^[ Pal. Ind. ser. ii. pt. 1. ** Pal. Ind. ser. ii. 



tt Mem. G. S. I. vol. ii. p. 318. 



