234 



Note on the Spiti Fossils. 



[No. 3, 



on their part to prevent any admixture of fossils from any other col- 

 lection with those sent by Dr. Gerard. It seems beyond a question 

 that Mr. Prinsep, Capt. Herbert, Messrs, Everest and Sowerby were 

 all quite satisfied that the fossils figured -on the plates I have referred 

 to, had actually come from Br. Gerard, and whatever confusion or 

 neglect may have resulted in after years, the Society's collections at 

 that time were certainly not in the disgraceful state of which Mr, 

 Blanford so justly complains. It is then, I think, certain that these 

 fossils from Dr. Gerard had not been accidentally mixed with the 

 English fossils after they had come to Calcutta, and I think every 

 one who reads Dr. Gerard's papers will also admit that he did not 

 carry with him a collection of English Liassic fossils with which the 

 Spiti collection could be ' accidentally' mixed, before its despatch to 

 Calcutta. It must be borne in mind also that the plates of these fos- 

 sils were published within a comparatively short time of discovery of 

 them, when the error of having any admixture of English fossils 

 could have been discovered. 



Of seven species of ammonites so figured by Mr. Prinsep, and de- 

 scribed by Mr. Everest and Mr. Sowerby as part of Dr. Gerard's col- 

 lection, the author of the paper I refer to entirely rejects as ' spurious/ 

 and as being English specimens, no less than five. Others, although 

 there is not nearly so much evidence of their being from Spiti, are as 

 unhesitatingly admitted as genuine. 



M. Jacquemont visited the neighbourhood of Spiti in 1830, and 

 brought away a noble collection of fossils which have unfortunately 

 since remained undescribed in the Museum, Paris (with the excep- 

 tion of one or two species noticed by L. Von Buch.) Subsequently 

 in 1860, I despatched Messrs. Theobald and Mallet, both of the 

 Geological Survey of India, to Spiti, during the time when work in 

 the plains of India was impracticable, with instructions to bring away 

 as full a collection of fossils as the time they could devote to it would 

 permit, and to make such notes and observations as would elucidate 

 the Geological structure of the district. A brief account of the trip 

 was given to the Society by Mr. Theobald and published in 1862, 

 (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1862, p. 480.) The collection made by these 

 gentlemen was a good one considering the brief time at their disposal, 

 but could not at all be accepted as fully illustrating the Geology of 

 the valley. Mr. Theobald subsequently, in the spring of 1862, when 



