20 



period, then its molluscous fauna must be the type from? 

 which, were Mr. Darwin's theory correct, that of Jaffna,. 

 North India and Europe, have been developed. 



Again to the agriculturist,, what commercial importance 

 may be derived from these facts,, simple as they are. For 

 instance, Coffee grows only on limited localities, to the exclu- 

 sion of others. If geology can prove that these are all of one 

 contemporaneous and similar origin, the discovery of similar 

 coeval districts would be a signal for immediate enterprise in 

 the cultivation of those products known to succeed on the al- 

 ready cultivated tracts of that age t: and, while on this subject, 

 I may mention that in two of the coffee districts of the East, 

 Travancore and Seychelles,- the molluscous fauna is allied to 

 ours, indeed the former is in many instances- hardly distin- 

 guishable, if distinct at all. Java presents also striking 

 analogies, and it probably may be proved of similar and 

 coeval origin with our district- 

 In conclusion, I am conscious that this paper is but 

 incomplete, and it is impossible for me to avoid many and 

 great errors on a subject hitherto untouched, and only to be 

 argued from analogy and not direct proofs ; but I trust my 

 present effort will lead to more perfect ones from other 

 members, so that ultimately we may more surely know, by 

 tracing geological and zoological limits combined, which of 

 our distinct types of fauna is the oldest, and how far traces- 

 of development from the older to the newer are still to be 

 found. 



