254 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 3. 



2. — Carbonaceous shale series, fossiliferous, consisting of — 



(a) — Blue and lilac shales, micaceous ; white speckled sandstones 

 and ironstones, about 1500 feet thick. 



(b) — Carbonaceous shales containing thin seams of coal (3 inches) 

 irregularly dispersed through them, about 200 feet. 



(c) — Shales and coarse white sandstones, the latter predominate 

 in lower portion, 100 to 200 feet. 



3. — Lower shale and sandstone series, annelide tracks, consist- 

 ing of — 



(a) — Blue nodular shales, generally arenaceous. 



(b) — Fine sandstones, much jointed and " tesselated." 



(c) — " Boulder bed," containing numerous boulders of gneiss 

 and granite frequently 5 to 6 feet across — in a fine argillaceous or 

 arenaceous rock, often rippled, sometimes replaced by a coarse 

 sandstone. 



Each of these series rested unconformably on that beneath it. 



He would for the present avoid entering on the consideration 

 of the more recent deposits, which were however, full of interest, 

 and would be referred to on some other occasion. 



Mr. Oldham, in putting forward these views, deprecated the idea, 

 that in differing so entirely from any previous observers he should 

 be supposed to wish to throw any censure or discredit on their 

 labours. On the contrary, the more closely those labours were 

 examined the more valuable most of them appeared, and to many 

 were they indebted for most important observations. The results 

 arrived at were rather a proof of the absolute necessity of the 

 geological examination of a large country being under one combined 

 and systematic control. The rocks which this evening he hoped he 

 had been able to reduce into some order, he had first met with some 

 years back in Bengal, but from the peculiar way in which they were 

 then seen, it was impossible to make out their relations. It was 

 constantly thus : the examination of one district would throw light 

 on and remove the difficulties of another, and while independent 

 observers would in all probability have continued to group together 

 things essentially different, or separate others essentially the same, 



