100 



On the Fossils of the Eastern Portion 



[July 



and that the western and eastern ghats must have partaken in this great 

 movement. 



Shells, probably of the same genera, were also found by Dr. Voysey in 

 the insulated basaltic hills of Medcondah* and Sivaliugapah, which rest 

 on the granite of the Deckan, south of the Godaveiy, and are probably 

 connected with the southern part of the great trap district, and the hills 

 of Bicknor Pett and Nugger shown in Section 1. The fossils are 

 imbedded in the basalt, in a siliceous rock containing lime, and cor- 

 responding in specific gravity, chemical composition, and appearance to 

 the fossiliferous cherts of the ^^irmul Hills. Sivalingapah lies consider- 

 ably to the west, but nearly in the same latitude as Nirmul. 



The only other locality where fossil shells have yet been discovered, 

 within or near the great basaltic district, is five miles south of Rajah- 

 mundry, a large town on the Godavery, a little above the alluvial plains 

 of its Deltat. They occur in some small hills ranging nearly W. and E., 

 and composed of conglomerate and red sandstone supporting wacke, 

 overlaid by limestone containing shells, which is again covered by basalt. 

 The shells are in the best condition in the upper part of the limestone ; 

 of many only the impressions remain, but the oysters, which are ihe 

 most abundant, are well preserved. The basalt and some specimens of 

 the chert, jaspers, &c., from these hills, presented to me by Dr. Benza, 

 resemble the varieties found with the freshwater shells of the Sichel 

 range, and the hills in which they occur having the same direction, are 

 probably connected with the eastern termination of that range. They 

 are evidently associated with the sandstones of the diamond districts 

 to the north of the Kistnah, and with the continuation of the eastern 

 ghats ; thus confirming the opinion above expressed, of these moun- 

 tains being of more modern elevation than is supposed by some geolo- 

 gists. It is impossible to separate the western ghats from the eastern in 

 any theory that can be formed, as they diverge from the same point, 

 support the same table-lands and the same stratified rocks ; and where 

 these mountains meet at the Neilgherry Hills, the hornblende schist has 

 been noticed by Dr. Benza to dip in opposite directions from the eastern 

 and western mountains. 



In the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. iv., p. 5G5, and 



* In a specimen of this chert in the Geological Society's Museum, I have found a 

 gyrogonite of the same kind as those of Nirmul, and halves of a species of Cypris asso- 

 ciated with shells. June 24, 1839. 



+ Dr. Benza on the Neilgherries, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,''p. 435., 

 Aug., 1835, 



