1838.] Geology of the Kdsya Mountains. 71 



interval of time had elapsed between the period at which the formation 

 of the conglomerates was finished, and that at which the production of 

 the limestone commenced, to allow of the disappearance from the seas 

 of one class of animals, and the introduction of another. The surface 

 of this great formation for two-thirds of the entire height of the Kdsya 

 mountains in this situation, is covered with a stratum of marine shells 

 which lie immediately under the soil, and in places these remains are 

 accumulated in extensive deposits of the shingle of an ancient coast 

 represented at Z, in the preceding figure. 



On the summits which intervene between the coal at Chirra, and 

 that of Sevarim above adverted to, the sandstone is chiefly of a brick 

 red color, variegated in places with white. Imbedded in the structure 

 of this rock, the fragment of a fruit or lomentum of a leguminous plant 

 belonging to the tribe mimosea, was found*. This fossil, figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 

 plate I., like the remains of the teredinous animals already noticed, 

 (though its form is better preserved) is converted into sandstone in no 

 way different from the matrix, except that it was separated from it by a 

 want of cohesion between the form and the impression. It is probable 

 from this condition of the fossil that it may have lived at a time when 

 the rock in which it was imbedded was forming, and been washed into 

 waters and deposited with their sediment. Near it was found a thorny 

 stem, fig. 3, plate I., such as the plant to which the fruit belonged most 

 probably possessed, especially as the thorny species of mimosese, produc- 

 ing fruit of such a size, are the most numerous of the tribe. The mi- 

 mosese form a very general feature of the vegetation of the plains, but 

 are rarely if ever seen on mountain summits at such an elevation as the 

 rock in which these fragments were found. The inference consequently 

 tends to support the indications of upheavement afforded by the marine 

 remains so extensively distributed over the acclivities of these mountains, 

 as well as the doctrine of Lyell as to the influence of vicissitudes in 

 physical geography, on the distribution and existence of species. It also 

 leads us to infer, that one feature at least of the existing vegetation of 

 India, has survived those revolutions which have obliterated the existence 

 of tropical forms in the present temperate regions of the earth. 



Reposing on the teredinite sandstone near Chirra, a detached accu- 

 mulation of limestone with alternating beds of sandstone, coal, and shale, 

 disposed in horizontal strata, form a precipice about a hundred feet high 

 from the base. Coal, to a thickness of fifteen feet in places occupies a 



* We are indebted to the botanical acquirements of my friend and fellow- 

 traveller William Griffith, Esq. for aright knowledge of tbe nature of this 

 fossil. 



