198 



Proceedings of Societies : 



A brief sketch of the Life and Writings of Father Beschi, or Vira.- 

 MAMUNi : — Translated from the original Tamil, by A. Muttusami Pil- 

 LKi, manager of the College of Fort St. George, and Moonshee to the 

 Tamil Translator to Government. 



Some singular spheroidal mineral masses were laid before the meeting 

 by Mr. Elliot and Lieut. Cotton, forwarded by Assistant Surgeon J. 

 Sanderson. They were found 5 miles west of the village of Sireeper- 

 madoor, in the district of Chingleput, at a depth of from 2 to 3 feet 

 from the surface, in <he gravel of the lalerite formation. These sphe- 

 roids were about the size of cocoa-nuts, to which they bore some 

 general resemblance, so as to have conveyed the idea of their being 

 actually fossils, Avhen they were first removed from their matrix. They 

 are hollow within, or contain some aluminous earth, and the shell is 

 composed of a kind of sandstone grit, very hard and compact, consist- 

 ing of a dark ferrugenous paste, embedding minute fragments of 

 quartz. 



Specimens of the supposed fossils from the Peam Gunga River in the 

 Hyderabad country, mentioned at p. 477 of the I9th No. of this Journal, 

 were on the table, and excited much speculation as to their nature ; 

 the result of which will be noticed at a future time. 



Thursday Evening, 5th March \M0.— The Hon. ^ar Robert Comyn, 



President f in the Chair, 



The following work, presented to the Society, was laid on the 

 table :— 



Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for November 1839. — By 

 the Asiatic Society. 

 The thanks of the Society were voted for the same. 



The following communications to the Society were laid before the 

 meeting : 



Colonel Monteith's continuation of his Translation of Count Meyen- 

 dorff's Journey from Orenbourg to Bokhara. 



Mr. C. P. Brown's Essay on the Creed, Customs and Literature of the 

 Jangams — (Read to the Meeting, and published in our present No.) 



