268 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 



Mr. Middlemiss of some fossils east of the Tal river. He ascribes 

 the normal position of this Tal group as above the massive limestone 

 and thu3 next below the nummulitic band. Mr. Middlemiss also 

 investigated the circumstances of the Bengal earthquake, and 

 secured some good observations in positions favourable for ascer- 

 taining the focus of the shock. The Kashmir earthquake, -which 

 was reported on by Mr. Jones, was far more difficult to investigate 

 critically, owing to the rough mode of construction of the native 

 houses, the heavy earthen roofs having simply collapsed between 

 crumbling walls, leaving little trace of direction. The same cause 

 also made it most disastrous in respect of loss of life. 



Dr. Feistmantel, the permanent Palaeontologist of the Survey, 

 resigned his appointment at the termination of his two years' 

 furlough, having accepted a professorship at Prague. In his three 

 volumes on the Gondwana Flora this learned and energetic officer 

 has cleared up many difficulties connected with the principal rock 

 system of India, and supplied a standard for future work in that 

 branch of palaeontology. 



The work of the Survey had necessarily suffered from the absence 

 of a palaeontologist, but, nevertheless, the co-operation of savants 

 enabled some important papers to be issued during the year. The 

 fossil Echinoidea from the Gaj or miocene series of Sind were 

 described by Professor Martin Duncan and Mr. Percy Sladen, and 

 two instalments of Dr. Waagen's work on the Salt range fossils were 

 also published. Mr. Lydekker also brought out two parts of the 

 " Palaeontologia Indica," dealing with Indian Pretertiary Vertebrata, 

 and a third part (Xo. 6 of Series X.. on the Siwalik and Xarbada 

 Chelonia) devoted to tertiary and post-tertiary vertebrata. 



During 1886 Mr. Foote, whose work had been confined to the 

 Madras Presidency during the two previous seasons, mapped a con- 

 siderable area, in extension of his previous work in Bellary, both of 

 gneiss and of bis Dharwar schistose series. The researches of 

 Mr. Foote's son, Lieutenant H. Foote, R.A., in the Karnul cave 

 resulted in the discovery of very interesting fauna, which has 

 been described by Mr. Lydekker in the :i Palaeontologia Indica." A 

 large number of the species, according to this authority, are now 

 t ither totally extinct or not living in India, and are not newer than 

 pleistocene. They display numerous affinities with African types, 

 a feature previously note! regarding the tertiary Siwalik fauna 



