1840.] 



Geological Desiderata, 



245 



At the base of the cliffs west of Beder, veins of manganese, blended 

 with iron ore, intersect the laterite near its contact with the trap, which 

 appear to have penetrated from below. I am not aware whether the 

 occurrence of similar veins in laterite has been previously noticed by- 

 geological observers. They were seen subsequently in the laterite of 

 Ingleswara, and also in the stindstone near it* contact with the trap, 

 between Kulladghi and the falls of Gokauk. 1 1 is not improbable that 

 the purple colour of the lithomarge, and that of the veins of amethystine 

 quartz in the vicinity of Hyderabad, near which I detected manganese, 

 may be owing to the presence of this mineral. 



The soil on the surface of the elevated table land of Beder, is the 

 result of the decay of the subjacent laterite, intersected by belts of 

 black cotton soil. Voysey noted four well defined zones of this soil, 

 running; north and south, and lying between ** ridges of iron clay," on 

 the road from Beder to Shelapilly. 



The laterite, as on the Malabar coast, is quarried at Beder, Calliany, 

 and Belgaum, and extensively used for building. At Calliany shops 

 and houses, now deserted, have been excavated in the solid rock; it is 

 also employed, when ground into a clay with water, as a water-proof 

 cement for the flat roofs of the houses in the last named town. The 

 amygdaloid associated with the trap and laterite imbeds most of the 

 minerals noticed in the great overlying trap formation of the Deccan, 

 viz. calcedony, cornelian, semi and common opal, cacholong, calcspar, 

 agate, jasper, heliotrope, a variety of zeolites, glauconite, ohvine and 

 augite. 



lY. — Geological Desiderata. — By Lieut. T. J. Newbold, 2M Light 



Infantry. 



1. — -Observations on the direction of mountainous elevation through- 

 out India, with reference to Elie de Beaumont's theory of the deter- 

 mination of the epoch of their souleveme?it. 



2. — Connected and extended observations on the dip and direction of 

 the stratified rocks, from the plains to the bases of uplifted abnormal 

 masses. These observations should be continued on every side of the 

 bases, and carried on in connexion with similar observations on the dip 

 and direction of the joints and cleavage of rocks. The petrographical 

 character of the rocks in all cases should be carefully noted. Little 



