339 



Geology of the Sou fit of fnd/n. 



[Oct. 



nianv of the shells ha\e been entonibod whore ihey had lived), 

 and the enij>tion of fluid lava and scovitp; and the connection of 

 the hot springs of Mour, Kair, and others to the S. 1'^., with the 

 volcanic chain in which tlie great extinct crater of Lnnar occurs, 

 can now only be alluded to. But tlic widt; extent over which 

 fossiU lutve already been discovered in ditVi rent parts of the great 

 volcanic district, cannot fail to throw much li'j,ht on its relative 

 age, and on the ireology of the whole tract from the Ganges to 

 the Kistnah, and even on the countries south of that river, espe- 

 cially the diamond distrii:ts. 



I shall take an early opportunity of presenting a series of 

 specimens to the Society, whicl^ will demonstrate the existence of 

 an inland sea or great inlet, which at one time has flowed over 

 the fertile valley of Berar. Great beds of marine shells, some 

 of them so perfect as to diflcr little in a])peaience from an oyster 

 bed on a modern coast, are now found in the recesses of the forests 

 ■which cover the Neermul hills ; in others we are almost led to ex- 

 jicct to be altlcto open the bivalves, the hinge though composed of 

 flint, appealing to the eye, of the same elastic structure as the re- 

 cent shells on the beach. The impression left on the mind by the 

 examination of these singular relicts concealed by the long grass 

 vhich cover those solitary wilds, whenever the forest is sufficiently 

 thin to admit of its growth, was very strong and cannot be con- 

 ceived by the mere examination of imperfect hand specimens. The 

 pursuit was not without some danger, as tigers are unusually nu- 

 merous and night came on while engaged in it. The stone-cutters 

 I had brought with me, could not be induced to remain alone or to 

 explore any nevv thicket without my presence, and no small alarm 

 was excited by the sudden rush of a large elk through the long grass 

 which concealed him from the people. That the sea was not at the 

 period in question flowing over the Peninsula, and that the marine 

 animals had existed on the coasts of an inlet is apparent, from the 

 occurrence of a fossil palm and of branches of dicotyledonous trees 

 at Hingangaut (a large town near which Colonel Lambton is bu- 

 ried), and of a mixture of large marine shells and wood, in the same 

 rock, in other places, while in one instance, some fine remains of a 

 species of cyclostoma, not very different from that still abundant in 

 the fresh water streams and ponds of the neighbourhood, is found 

 near a bed of large marine shells. Nor will it appear improbable, 

 that such an inlet from the bay of Canibay could have reached the 

 high country near which the Taptee and Nurbudah now rise, when 



