1880.] 



Histovi/ of the Fonsil Vcrtebrata of India, 



9 



brate life of India. Noticeable among these are the names of Buckland, 

 Crawfurd, and Clift. Crawfurd, on his return from his mission to the court 

 of Ava in 1826, brought back some Tertiary mammalian remains from the 

 valley of the Irawadi, which were among the fii*st obtained in Asia by 

 Europeans,and which were subsequently described by the late Mr. Clift in the 

 ' Transactions of the Geological Society of London.'* In the same volume 

 of the ' Transactions,' a memoir was also published by the late Dr. Buckland 

 on the Ava bones. Another memoir also appeared in the same volume by 

 Mr. Pentland, on certain mammalian remains from the Siwaliks of Sylhet, 

 collected by Sir T. Colebrooke. As you are doubtless aware, the fossil 

 vertebrate fauna of the Siwaliks and the newer Narbadas, were subsequently 

 fully illustrated, and in part described, by our former illustrious associates, 

 Falconer and Cautley, the results of whose labours are abundantly dispersed 

 through our Society's publications, and displayed in that now classic work 

 the ' Fauna Autiqua Sivalensis.' 



Dr. Charles Murchison, the editor of the ' PalsEontological Memoirs' 

 of Dr. Falconer, has rendered one of the most important services to the 

 cause of vertebrate paleontology in this country, by collecting and publish- 

 ing the scattered notes and memoirs of that distinguished palffiontologist. 

 Professors Owen and Huxley have contributed largely to our knowledge 

 of the fossil Eeptilia and Batrachia of India ; while the fossil fisli have 

 been enriched either by the discoveries or the writings of Messrs. Egerton, 

 Miall, Sykes, and Walker. 



A valuable memoir on the extinct Siwalik genus Sivatheriwn was 

 contributed to the ' Geological Magazine' by Dr. Murie ; another on Bra- 

 matlierium, by Mr. Bettington and Professor Owen, to the ' Journal of the 

 Royal Asiatic Society.' A few Siwalik fossils collected by the Messrs. 

 Schlagintweit were described in the German ' Palseontographica' by the 

 late H. von Meyer. The late Dr. J. E. Gray also determined a few of 

 the Indian fossil reptiles. Professor A. Milne-Edwards determined some 

 Siwalik bird-bones. Some mammal-bones from the Tibet Tertiaries were 

 determined by Mr. Waterhouse. 



Among the later contributors to our knowledge of the fossil verte- 

 brata of India must be mentioned Professor Riitimeyer, who has afforded 

 valuable information on the Siwalik ruminants in the British Museum ; 

 and Mr. P. N. Bose, who has described some of the fossil Siwalik Carnivora 

 in the same collection. Mr. Davies, of the British Museum, has also 

 contriinited to the ' Geological Magazine' a valuable paper on Siwalik 

 birds. Professor Leith Adams has published some notes on Elephas nama- 

 dicus in the Pala;ontographical Society's publications. 



The above names arc only the chief among the workers in Indian 



* Scr. 2, Vol. TI. 



