1880.] 



History of tlic Fossil Yerteljrata of India. 



23 



There are also two small undetermined bird bones in the Indian Museum. 

 The Struthioid or Ratitian modification of bird structure appears to have 

 been represented by three Siwalik species ; viz., an ostrich (8trutJiio asiativus) 

 indicated by some of the bones of the lower leg and foot and by vertebra : 

 an emeu (Dromcsus sivalensis), by bones of the foot : and, according to Mr. 

 Davies, a three-toed bird, intermediate between these two genera, by a 

 single phalangeal bone. The living ostrich is confined to the African con- 

 tinent, and the emeu to New-Holland ; the occurrence of fossil species of 

 these genera in the higher Tertiaries of India, probably points to a late land 

 connection between these countries. 



Fossil Mammals. 



JEocene. — No traces of mammals have hitherto been detected in India 

 below the Eocene, and in the latter formation only some fragmentary bones 

 have been obtained by Mr. Wynne in the Nummulitics of the Punjab, The 

 only determinable bones consist of the distal portion of the femur and meta- 

 tarsals of a probably perissodactyle animal, and the astragalus of an artiodac- 

 tyle.* The femur was obtained from the Nummulitic (Subathu) zone of the 

 Punjab, while the astragalus was obtained immediately above the Nummulitic 

 clays of Fatchjang in the Punjab, which are probably of upper Eocene age. 

 The astragalus seems certainly to be that of a ruminant, as it belonged to 

 an animal in which the navicular and cuboid bones were united, If this 

 determination be correct, ruminants existed in the r.j^per Eocene period. 



Blio-Pliocene. — The Tertiary ossiferous rocks of Perim Island, Sind, 

 the Punjab, the Sub-Himalayan Siwaliks, Sylhet, Tibet, and the valley of 

 the Irawadi, have yielded a large number of mammalian and other verte- 

 brate fossils, many of which are represented in the collection of the Socie- 

 ty, now transferred to the Indian Museum. The fossils of the Irawadi 

 valley were first brought to notice by Crawfurd and Clift, while those 

 of the typical Siwaliks were rendered classic by the labours of Falconer and 

 Cautley, and other former members of this Society. Some of these fossili- 

 ferous beds are of Miocene, and others of Pliocene age, and an admirable 

 restme of their distribution and relations are given in the ' Manual of the 

 Geology of India,' to which work I must refer my readers desirous of 

 further information on this subject. 



The Siwalik Priuuxtes are at present known merely by a few frag- 

 ments of upper and lower jaws and teeth, and it is probable tliat more 

 species remain to be discovered. The known forms comprehend a large 

 anthropoid ape, which has been named Paheopitliecm sivalensis tliis 



* K. G. S. I. Vol. IX, p. 92. In that passage tlic words " mainmaUferous clays," 

 should bo " iiiimiiiif/ifcroKS clan's." 

 t K. G. S. I. Vol. XII, p. 38. 



