328 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



spot or not. Beyond some rolled fragments of bone we found 

 nothing. 



On the third day (Christmas Day) we started on the same 

 route, but stopped short at the conglomerate on the western side, 

 and examined it for a considerable distance in both a northerly 

 and southerly direction, especially where it outcrops by the side 

 of the road leading north into Bene village. Again we found no 

 signs of flints. Some rolled fragments of bone were all that had 

 up to now rewarded our efforts, though we had examined a con- 

 siderable portion of the bed in different localities. We found 

 the nature of the conglomerate to differ in different places, as 

 noted by Dr. Noetling at p. 59 of the ' Memoirs,' vol. xxvii. 

 part 2, where he says : — " At some places it is a rather incoherent 

 agglomerate of irregularly shaped concretions of a ferruginous 

 clay, at others it contains numerous quartz pebbles cemented by 

 a hard conglomerate sandstone, at others again it is an earthy 

 iron ore of a bright red colour." But, whatever the nature of 

 the conglomerate, it was apparent that had any foreign substance, 

 such as flint chips, been exposed on its surface, or lying out on 

 the numerous slopes where the detritus of the bed was spread 

 out, as if on purpose, we must have found them, at any rate, as 

 easily as we found the numerous fragments of bone. 



On the fourth and last day of our visit we determined to 

 make an effort to locate No. 49 precisely, in case there might be 

 some quite local feature which did not exist elsewhere, and we 

 therefore crossed the oil-field, as on the second day, and, on 

 coming to the eastern side, sent the cart up on to the plateau 

 beyond, with instructions to turn southwards, following the 

 course of the ravine, and stop at about the place where we 

 calculated that it would be opposite No. 49 ; while we also went 

 southwards, but kept down in the ravine, searching the con- 

 glomerate, and the slopes below it. By breakfast-time we had 

 joined up our first and second days' searches, and had found 

 nothing beyond the usual rolled fragments and a few pieces 

 of a tooth, apparently Aceratherium perimense. Above the con- 

 glomerate, however, we found a bed composed of innumerable 

 shells of Batissa crawfurdi, such as is mentioned by Dr. Noetling 

 as occurring near where he found the flints. We both agreed, 

 judging from our present position and distance from Minlin Hill, 



