1858.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 113 



and I desire to place on record the facts of the case, more fully than 

 has hitherto been done, that the friend whose zeal first led to the 

 discovery may be rewarded by obtaining full merit for his intelli- 

 gent research. 



All those who have given any attention to the study of Indian 

 geology, are aware that previously to last year, rocks of the cre- 

 taceous epoch, were only known to occur, in the South of the Indian 

 Peninsula, forming a band, the limits of which were supposed to be 

 near Trichinopoly on the South, and near Pondicherry on the North, 

 The true relations of this band of cretaceous rocks, have never been 

 fully investigated, but a very beautifully preserved, and numerous 

 suite of fossils had been collected from them by Messrs. Kay and 

 Brooke Cunliffe, of the Madras Civil Service, which were presented 

 to the Geological Society of London. The description of these 

 fossils was undertaken by the late Professor Edward Forbes, and a 

 most valuable and instructive memoir, fully illustrated with excel- 

 lent plates, was published in the 3rd part of the 7th vol. of the 

 Geological Transactions, London. 



After giving a detailed description of the species found, Professor 

 Forbes entered on a discussion of the inferences to be drawn from 

 the Fauna thus represented. It must be borne in mind that pre- 

 viously to this publication, the occurrence of any rocks, representa- 

 tives of the cretaceous epoch in India, had often been denied, and 

 that there was no fixed geological horizon to which such a new 

 discovery could be referred. The physical relations of the rocks 

 containing the fossils to any other recognised groups were unknown, 

 and it was only from a discussion of the organic remains contained 

 in them, that any just inference as to their geological age could be 

 attained. 



Professor Forbes entered fully into this discussion, and from a 

 careful analysis of all the evidence arrived at the conclusion, that 

 all the beds from which fossils had been obtained were parts or mem- 

 bers of one and the same series, and that that series was equivalent 

 to the cretaceous series of Europe ; the deposits at Trichinopoly and 

 Verdachellum, being probably equivalent to the upper greensand 

 and gault divisions of that series ; the deposit near Pondicherry, 

 beiug equivalent to the Neocomieu, or lower greensand. 



Q 



