1838.] 



Geological Society of London, 



259 



cubic inches ; and at a temperature of 60° Fahr., it contains 48 per 

 cent, less than an imperial gallon, or very nearly two quarts. Rigidly 

 the seer of capacity is 4.17 per cent, larger than an imperial quart. 

 Measures of capacity and weights, however, differ a good deal in differ- 

 ent market-towns. The standard seer of weight is equal to 80 Arkoo- 

 see rupees, or 1-lb. 15 oz. 8 dwts. 181 grains, avoirdupois ; but the seer 

 commonly in use weighs only 76 rupees. 



Geological Society of London. 



February 22, 1836.— A paper on the Geology of Cutch, by Cap- 

 tain Grant, of the Bombay Engineers, and communicated by Charles 

 Lyell, Esq., F. G. S., was read. 



This district, so highly interesting on account of the phsenomena 

 which accompanied the earthquake that devastated it in 1819*, is 

 situated near the eastern branch of the Indus, between 22 and 24 

 degrees of north latitude, and 68 and 72 degrees of east longitude. 

 On the north, it is bounded by the Grand Runn, and the Thur or 

 Little Desert, on the south by the Gulf of Cutch and the Indian Ocean, 

 on the east by the province of Guzerat, and on the west by the eastern- 

 branch of the Indus and the territory of Sinde. Its superficial con- 

 tents are about 6500 square miles. The surface is traversed by three 

 ranges of hills, having in general an east and west direction. The 

 hills constituting the northern chain, which borders the Runn, present 

 a perpendicular capping of sandstone, surmounting towards the north 

 a sloping talus, and towards the south an inclined plane, both com- 

 posed of laminated clay and slaty limestone, with occasionally layers 

 of sandstone. The second or central range, is constituted partly of 

 the formation last mentioned, and partly of another consisting of sand- 

 stone and shale. The third or southern, is formed wholly of volcanic 

 rocks, but has nearly the same linear direction as the others. 



To the south of the last range is an extensive flat, compose-d of a 

 deposit, considered by Capt. Grant to be tertiary, and of an alluvial 

 band, bordering the sea coast. 



The first of these formations, which constitutes the northern range 

 of hills, abounds with Ammonites, Nautili, Belemnites, Trigonia^, and 

 other fossils characteristic of the oolitic system of England. The for- 

 mation of sandstone and shale, which occupies a much greater surface, 



* A collection of papers relative to this earthquake appeared in Phil. Mag. First Series 

 vol. Ixiii. p. lo5 et sec[. 



