GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 245 



Bengal. The northern part of the region is occupied by meta- 

 morphic rocks, which pass across the boundaries of Manbhum on 

 the north into Birbhum and Hazaribagh, on the west and south 

 into Lohardaga and Singbhum, and on the east into Bankuva 

 and Midnapur, while the southern half is covered by sub-meta- 

 raorphic rocks, the term adopted by the Geological Survey of India 

 for a series which, though showing distinct signs of metamorphism, 

 do so in a much less degree than do the gneissose or metamorphic 

 rocks proper. The prefix sub refers to the amount of metamorphism, 

 not, as might be supposed, to the position in the geological scale. 

 Speaking generally, the sub-metamorpkics of Bengal may be said 

 to occupy a position in the geological scale roughly corresponding 

 to that of the Huronian of Canada or the Cambrian of Europe. 



The determination of further obscure points in the great Gondwana 

 series occupied the attention of several members of the Geological 

 Staff in 1878. Dr. King was engaged in endeavouring to fix the 

 middle Gondwana horizon on the lower Godavari, while Mr. Hughes 

 came across plant fossils of decided upper Gondwana type between 

 the Pranhita and Godavari rivers. Early in the season Dr. Feist- 

 mantel visited the Satpura coal basin to examine on the spot some 

 good sections of the Gondwana series. He shows that they belong 

 to the horizon of coal-bearing strata represented by the Karharbari 

 measures in Bengal. And on the western confines of the Peninsula, 

 where the Gondwanas become associated with marine strata, 

 Mr. Fedden broke new ground in Kathiawar, of which he surveyed 

 about 1,800 square miles. He speaks very highly of the excellence 

 of the sheets of Captain H. Trotter, R.E.'s Topographical Survey 

 of that province. The country is for the most part flat, and the 

 rocks consist of Deccan traps overlying sandstone in which some 

 remains of plants were found. These plants prove to be identical 

 with those occurring in the uppermost Jurassic or IJmia beds of 

 Cutch, and it is thus clear that a portion at least of the Cutch 

 Jurassic series extends into northern Kathiawar. The greater part 

 oi the area examined consists of Jurassic sandstone, the hills being 

 of trap, but to the southward, where the surface is more hilly, the 

 traps cover the country. 



In Southern India Mr. Foote took up new ground to the south 

 of Trichinopoly. The region belongs partly to the Madura, Tanjore, 

 and Trichinopoly districts, and partly to the native state of Pudukotai 

 or Tondiman. It may be described as a gently undulating inclined 



