1840.] On the Sevdlic Hills. 299 



Hills West or the Jumna. 



These, as I before stated, consist of the same series of shingle, sand, 

 clays, and marls; but they differ, in the beds of shingle being less abun- 

 dant, although equally inclined, and in containing a different descriptioa 

 of boulder. The rolled fragments eastward of the Jumna are all of pri- 

 mary or lower rocks, whilst those to the westward are confined to varie ' 

 ties of clay slate, and quartz. The marl, which, between the Jumna 

 and Ganges shows itself in the southern limits, is here exposed at a 

 point north of Nahun, cropping out on the northern slope of the moun- 

 tain ; and the fossil remains resemble those found in the marl eastward 

 of the Jumna, consisting of mammafers, crocodiles, tortoises, fishes, and 

 shells. From Nahun to the plains there is a succession of sandstones 

 and clays, without any abundance of shingle. The sandstone, which, in 

 the vicinity of Nahun, is much indurated, and used for building, be- 

 comes softer on approaching the plains ; long before reaching which, the 

 whole formation consists of an interminable succession of sandstones and 

 clays, the latter being in the greatest abundance, of every variety of 

 colour, and dipping, on an average, 20° to the north. The topogra- 

 phical outline of these mountains, shows a considerable south- 

 ing of upheavement, in the hills westward of the Jumna : 

 and the circumstance of the fossil remains abounding in the 

 sandstones and clays in this tract, and not in that between the 

 Jumna and the Ganges, may probably be due to the non-upheave- 

 ment of the line on its prolongation eastward of the Jumna. The 

 action, in all probability, was exerted irregularly; and although in 

 the large scale we may lay down the dip and direction with accuracy, the 

 former as varying from IS** to 35®, and the latter from N. E. to S. W., 

 local details give very different results. 



The sandstone rock, from which the fossil remains sent to the So- 

 ciety's Museum were extracted, reposes at the above angle, over num- 

 berless beds of clays, more or less rich in testaceous rem.ains. The 

 fossil bones lie in great abundance on the surface of the slopes in the 

 neighbourhood of the sandstone, amongst the ruins of fallen cliffs, in the 

 beds of water-courses, &c. The bones which we have had the good 

 fortune to dig out of the rock are perfectly sharp, and in all their 

 original perfection. I may here advert to a circumstance to which the 

 preservation of the water- worn specimens is chiefly due. The sandstone is 

 generally soft, but in the proximity of the fossils it becomes ferrugin- 

 ous, concretionary, and so hard as to turn the edge of the chisel ; and 

 thus protects the fossil from destruction in its progress, as a boulder 

 along the torrent's bed. These concretions are occasionally globular, 



