584 MR. E. .T. WATLAKD AND DR. A. M. DATIES [vol. lxxix, 



and the deeper-water phase — probably one of comparatively long 

 duration — by thick deposits of limestone. 



As the evidence for this view is not complete, a possible alter- 

 native explanation of the facts may be indicated. If the litho- 

 logical resemblances between the areno-argillaceous beds of the 

 North-Western Province and those of Minihagalkanda imply 

 identit}^ of age, then the latter would be younger than the Jaffna 

 limestones instead of older, and their direct contact with the 

 crystalline rocks would be due to southward overlap. This appears 

 to us a distinctly less probable explanation of the facts than the 

 one that Ave have adopted. 



Although oscillations have taken place more recently, nothing 

 comparable to the Miocene depression is known to have left its 

 record in the Pliocene and Pleistocene geology of Ceylon. 



Part II. — The Faunas or the Miocene of Ceylon. 

 (By A. M. D.) 



The marine fossils collected by Mr. Wayland from the Northern, 

 North-Western, and Southern Provinces of Ceylon consist of fora- 

 minifera, corals, echinoids, and molluscs. Of these four groups the 

 representatives of the first and third are often beautifully pre- 

 served, though sometimes almost impossible to extract from their 

 matrix ; the corals are badly preserved ; while the condition of the 

 molluscs is mediocre, and they are generally represented by internal 

 oasts, or by specimens in which essential features (such as the hinge 

 of lamellibranchs) cannot be seen. The majority of the fossils 

 show so close a resemblance to species figured either by J. de C. 

 Sowerby from Kach, or by A. d'Archiac & J. Haime from Sind, 

 that there can be no question that they represent a normal marine 

 Indo-Pacific Neogene fauna. Many of them also show close re- 

 lations to recent Indo-Pacific species, and some resemblances to 

 Calif ornian Miocene fossils were noted; but very few suggest a 

 comparison with European forms, Tertiary or recent. 



The two localities which yielded the greatest number of fossils 

 are Kirimalai in the extreme north of the Jaffna peninsula, and 

 Minihagalkanda almost in the extreme south of the island. From 

 other localities only a very few fossils were brought. The}' are, in 

 geographical order from north to south: — (1) east of Kankesan- 

 turai (near Kirimalai) ; (2) near Pallai, in the south-eastern part of 

 the Jaffna peninsula ; (3) from the bed of the Kal Aru, which flows 

 to the western coast about 8° 40' lat. N. ; (4) north of the 

 Pomparippu, on the same coast, about 8° 20' lat. N. ; (5) Puttalam 

 (Anuradhapura road) on the same coast, about 8° lat. N. In all 

 these cases the rock is a foraminiferal limestone. From the bed 

 of the Kal Aru came also a chert, showing very obscure organic 

 structures. The land-shells from Kudremalai have been dealt 

 with in Part I (p. 583). 



