18?6.] the Country between Hyderabad and Nag-pur. 207 



perfect Cardia was entire, both valves being connected, and one frag- 

 ment, of a very large shell, has the water-worn appearance often seen 

 on the sea-shore. The edges of the large shells are harder than the 

 rest of the rock, and stand out from it, which has led the natives to 

 compare its surface to the impression left by the feet of sheep, and to 

 name it " Bakri ke paun ka patthar." Over the surface, many frag- 

 ments of basalt, calcedonies, &c. are scattered, derived from a lofty 

 spur of the higher point of the mountain, which rises precipitously 

 from the terrace within a few hundred feet of the fossil strata. A very 

 remarkable mass of soft peperino, resembling ashes, seemed to pro- 

 ceed from the limestone, where it begins to be lost amongst the debris 

 of the mountain; and amongst the loose fragments, were some very 

 tough clayey stones, having the forms of small univalve shells adhering 

 and embedded. 



The facts above described, and the nature of the different fossil beds, 

 more especially this great accumulation of marine shells resting imme- 

 diately on granite, and the fossil seeds of chara?, now perhaps first found 

 in India, leave no doubt on my mind, that this wild mountain country, 

 now covered with a dense forest, had once been the bed of an inland 

 sea or great estuary, on whose shore the charse and associated fresh- 

 water shells had flourished. 



On descending the pass towards Eidlabad, the rock changes to 

 amygdaloidal trap, with occasional masses of greenstone porphyry, 

 having large crystals of felspar imbedded. The opake milk-white 

 quartz, and the beautiful white porous crystalline mineral, which ac- 

 company the fossils, were found here, and were not met with elsewhere. 

 At the foot of the pass, granite re-appears, and protrudes in great 

 masses from the soil, for about four miles on either side of the town 

 ofEidUbdd*. 



Basaltic Tract between Eidlabad and Ndgpur. — The greater variety 

 of rocks that occur between Eidlabad and Nagpur, and the interest- 

 ing appearances they exhibit, will render it necessary to enter some- 

 what more into detail in describing the localities whence the speci- 

 mens were, collected ; so as to afford the means of determining their 

 relations to each other, and to the fossil deposits already described j 

 as well as to the great western trap formation, and the stratified rocks 

 to the north and south. 



The bed of the small river of Eidlabad (see map) is covered by 

 numerous fragments of the argillaceous blue limestone, so well known 

 as underlying the diamond breccia in the Cuddapah district south of 



* The localities of some other minerals found in the Nirmul hills are marked on the 

 specimens. The blood-red chert found in the valley of Ankni is remarkable. 



