1840.] Fossil remains of Camelidce of the Sewaliks. 621 



very imperfect and half-fossilized looking remains, being evidently of older 

 date than those of the sandstone. 



With very few exceptions, the only remains that have been discovered, 

 scattered on the faces of the mountains, or in the ravines and water-courses 

 which drain them, are those from the sandstone strata; those from the 

 lower beds appear to be of a quality too little indurated to withstand the 

 effects of weather and exposure. The greater proportion of the latter, 

 amongst which are some of our most interesting genera, viz., Simia, 

 Anoptothaeria, Camelidse, &c. were exhumed, removed out of the parent strata 

 in which they were originally embedded. The remains of Ruminants and 

 Rhinoceroses brought to light in this way, were singularly striking; nume- 

 rous crania of both families, in many cases not having shed their milk 

 teeth, being found closely and compactly imbedded together, the stratum 

 of rock being a perfect Golgotha, not of the skeletons of old and worn out 

 animals, but of those who were cut off when young, or in the prime of 

 their existence. 



In the osteology of the camel there are certain distinctive marks, which 

 at once separate it from the true Ruminantia, laying aside the peculiarities 

 of the cervical vertebrae, in the absence of perforations for the vertebral 

 arteries in their transverse processes, which, with the atlas excepted, is 

 universal in the family, and separates it not only from the Ruminants, but 

 from all other existing Mammalia. There are two very simple points of 

 difference, which can never be mistaken by the most careless observer, 

 the 1st, being the want of anchylosis in the lower extremities of the 

 metatarsal and metacarpal bones, — that of the camel exhibits itself in a 

 cleft or separation of the two bones, to a distance of two or three inches 

 from the articulating surface, whilst the same bones of the Ruminants are 

 perfectly undivided : and, secondly, in the marked distinction existing in the 

 carpal bones of the camel, in the separation of the scaphoid and cuboid, 

 these two bones being joined together in the true Ruminantia. 



Of these metatarsal and metacarpal bones, we have forwarded specimens 

 both to the British Museum and to the Geological Society of London, 

 extracted from the lower beds of the Sewalik strata, as well as from the 

 sandstone rock ; numerous other specimens of the same family have also 

 been sent to England the more perfect remains of crania being still in 

 our possession, although ultimately intended for the British Museum. 



The most valuable remains of Camelidae, which have as yet been dis- 

 covered in those hills, and which were figured in the Transactions of the 

 Bengal Asiatic Society, were dug out in my presence. The stratum in which 

 they were found consisted of a sandy clay, inclined at an angle to the 

 horizon of about 20 degrees, the position about half a mile north-east of the 



