8 



R. Lyclekker— SJcetch of the 



[No. 1, 



IV. — ^ Sketch of the History of the Fossil Vertehrata of India. — 

 By E. Lydekkee, B. A. 

 (Eeceived January 6tli ; read Februarj- 4th, 1880.) 



As far as I am aware, there has not hitherto been written a complete 

 history of the whole Fossil Vertebrate Famia of India, as far as it is at present 

 known to us, and I have, therefore, thought that it may interest many 

 members of this Society, as well as others, to know something of the extent 

 and affinities of this fauna, without the labour of wading through the 

 various works in which its history is recorded. The history of the Fossil 

 Vertehrata of India is, indeed, intimately connected with this ancient 

 Society, since some of the earliest workers in this branch of enquiry were 

 formerly among its members, and many of the results of their labours are. 

 to be found scattered through its earlier records. Pre-eminent among those 

 workers will always stand out the names of Baker, Durand, Cautley, Colvin, 

 Falconer, Hislop, M'CIelland, and Spilsbury. And it must always be 

 remembered, to their honour, that these workers in this most interesting 

 de]3artment of iDalteontology were solely amateurs, and that in their time 

 the study of vertebrate paleontology in this country was encumbered 

 with difficulties of which we, at the present day, can have no adequate 

 conception. The labours of Mr. Hislop were mainly expended in searching 

 the Gondwana rocks of the Central Provinces, from which he obtained 

 many interesting remains of reptiles, batrachians, and fishes ; Col. Sykes' 

 collections were chiefly made aiuong the fossil fishes of the Deccan ; while 

 the field of labour of the other workers lay mostly among the mammali- 

 ferous beds of Northern India, and the Narbada (Nerbudda) valley. 



I very much regret to say that since these illustrious workers, no 

 amateurs in India seem to have entered upon this interesting field of 

 research, and during the five years which I have been upon the staff of the 

 Geological Survey of India, we have not, I believe, received, in the Indian 

 Museum, a single fragment of a fossil vertebrate from a non-professional 

 worker. It is partly in the hope that this paper may reach the eye of 

 amateurs interested in natural science, and especially of those who lead a 

 wandering life in India, and induce them to endeavour to collect specimens 

 of vertebrate fossils for the Indian Museum, that it has been penned. 



Apart from members of the Geological Survey of India, to whom I shall 

 refer presentlj'^, there are other workers who, though not members of 

 this Society, have contributed largely to the history of the extinct verte- 



