10 



R. Lydekker — A Shetch of the 



[No. 1, 



vertebrate paleontology who are unconnected with the Geological Survey 

 of India. Of the former or present officers of that departnient, 

 I must mention, among discoverers, the names of Messrs. W. T. and 

 H. F. Blanford, Fedden, Foote, Hacket, Hughes, Medlicott, Theobald, 

 Tween, and Wynne, and, among writers, Messrs. W. T. and H. F. Blanford, 

 Foote, Oldham, Stoliczka, Theobald, Waagen, and, lastly, myself. 



Minor contributions, in the way both of specimens and papers, have 

 been made by other gentlemen, all of whose names it would be both tedi- 

 ous and difficult to bring together, but for whose exertions the workers 

 in this branch of enquiry have, none the less, good cause to be grateful. 

 Among these names I may mention. Bell, Dr. (Ichthyolite from Kach); 

 Blyth, E. (Siwalik Mammals) ; Burney, Col. (Ava Vertebrates) ; Burt, 

 Lieut. (Jamna Bones) ; Cantor, T. (Siwalik fish-skull) ; Carter, Dr. ; 

 Colebrooke, Sir T. (Tibet Tertiary Mammals) ; Dawe, W. (Tertiary Verte- 

 brates) ; Dean, E. (Jamna Mammals) ; Evei'est, Rev. R. (Siwalik Verte- 

 brates) ; Felix, Major, (Narbada Mammals) ; Foley, Capt. {Diodon from 

 Ramri Island) ; Frazer, Capt. (Narbada Mammals) ; Fulljames, Capt. 

 (Perim Mammals) ; Godwin-Austen, Col. (Siwalik Mammals) ; Gowan, 

 Major {Arcliegosaurus from Bijori) ; Hiigel, Baron (Perim Fossils) ; Ewer, 

 W. (Siwalik Vertebrates) ; Lush, Dr. (Perim Vertebrates) ; Ousely, Col. 

 (Narbada Mammals) ; Pepper, Miss (Perim Mammals) ; Phayre, Sir A. 

 (Ava Mammals) ; Prinsep, J. (Tertiary Mammals) ; Eivett-Oarnac, H. 

 {Arcliegosaurus from Bijori) ; Royle, (Siwalik Mammals) ; Sim, Lieut. 

 (^Arcliegosaurus from Bijori) ; Smith, Capt. E. (Jamna Mammals) ; Stra- 

 chey, Genl. (Tibet Tertiary Mammals) ; Trail, Dr. (Tibet Tertiary Mam- 

 mals) ; and Verchere, Dr. (Siwalik Mammals). 



The extinct vertebrate fauna of India, with the noticeable exception 

 of the mammalian upper Tertiary fauna, is generally remarkable for its 

 extreme poverty ; a poverty which may be due in some cases to the want 

 of adequate research, and in others to the small number of fossils preserved 

 in the, different strata. Only here and there, in the great Goudwana 

 series of India — which, as far as regards its higher and fossiliferous part, 

 in serial position, in mineralogical composition, and in its fresh-watei' 

 character, seems to correspond very closely with the Ti-ias-Jura of the 

 Connecticut valley in America, — do we find fossils locaUy abundant, as the 

 reptiles of the Panchet group, and the fish and reptiles of the Kota- 

 Maleri and neighbouring groups. With the exception of a few Cretaceous 

 reptiles, the fossils from the above-mentioned groups, which are really very 

 few, ai'e the only representatives of the Pre-Tertiary land and fresh-water 

 vertebrate fauna of which we have any traces in India. 



In place of the numerous and gigantic dinosaurs of the secondary lauds 

 of Europe and America, we have in India onl^' here and there a few bones, 



