592 Asiatic Society. [No. 115 



the table ; being basaltic hornblende from the central peak, calcareous sandstones and concretions 

 from the raised coasts and adjacent islands, with one or two specimens of indurated clays, and a 

 specimen of what I should almost venture to term a lias limestone ! found in boulders about the 

 mouths of the volcanoes. When to this we add the fact that of sixteen specimens of the soils of the 

 island, only two are in any degree calcareous, and these probably from the admixture of shells, we 

 have evidence that the volcanoes have formed the soils by eruptions of mud, either before or since 

 the upheavement of the island, since from the absence of the calcareous matter the soils cannot have 

 been formed like the coast rocks. It would moreover appear, that the eruptions have been from 

 different strata, amongst which one much resembles the lias, so great a novelty in Indian Geology ; 

 but which according to Franklin, is found [in the basaltic district of Bundlecund, in the direct 

 line between the mud volcanoes of Cheduba and those of Sommeanee. 

 Osteological. — We are beginning to mount the skeleton of the Neelghye. 

 Ornithological and Mammalogical. — Nothing new to report. 



Conchological.— Captain Halsted has obliged us by a small collection of shells from Cheduba 

 and the neighbouring islands, of which some will be additions to our cabinet. 



Botanical. — We have also in this department to announce an addition to the development of 

 our knowledge of Indian Natural History. My report for the month of May, and the Paper on 

 the Society's Himalaya Lichens, published in the Journal, anticipated the probability, that we 

 should discover valuable ones in our vast extent of territory ; and I have now the pleasure to an- 

 nounce, that one of our own specimens No. 17, which at first gave a brilliant crimson, has now 

 changed to a rich purple, shewing that it is of considerable value as a dying Lichen. The bottle 

 containing the liquid has been placed at the disposal of the Right Honorable the Governor Ge- 

 neral for transmission to England ; and we shall endeavour to procure such a supply of the Lichen, 

 as may enable proper experiments to be made. 



Museum of Economic Geology.— Br. Angus has been kind enough to procure for us from Dr. 

 Hunter of Futtyghur, specimens of the green glass bottles, and of the mixture used for manu- 

 facturing them there, as also of the clay from which the fire bricks are made. 



He has also been good enough to promise us larger specimens of the materials from which the 

 frit of the glass bottles is made, the scum and the melted material, we shall then possess in a second 

 instance, (Mr. W. Prinsep's contribution from the iron mines of Burdwan being the first) spe- 

 cimens of a complete Indian mineral manufacture, from the raw material up to the finished produc- 

 tion for the use of man. 



Additions to the Museum have been as above stated. 



Captain Halsted, H. M. S. Childers. — Geological specimens from Cheduba. 

 A collection of Shells, principally from Cheduba. 



Br. Hunter from Futtyghur through Dr. ^m^^ws.— Three green glass bottles from the Futtyghur 

 manufacture, with sample of the mixture from which they are made . 

 Specimen of the earth from which the Futtyghur fire bricks are made. 



H. PiDDINGTON, 



'7th July, 1841. Acting Curator, Museum Asiatic Society. 



Read letter No. 685, dated 18th June last, from the Secretary to the Government North West Pro- 

 vinces, forwarding Lieut. R. B. Smith's communication, submitting outline of a project for the 

 elucidation of the Economic Geology of the North West Provinces. 



Read also a letter from Lieut. R. B. Smith, of the 12th June last, received simultaneously with 

 the foregoing, intimating the submission of his project. 



Ordered, that the papers be referred to the Committee of Papers for consideration : meanwhile 

 Lieut. Smith be addressed to send the Tabular Forms prepared by him, said to embrace all points 

 essential to the formation of an estimate of the Economic value of the materials specified and re- 

 ferred to in his letter to Mr. Secretary Thomason, of 3d June 1841, paragraph 4. 



