52 Sct7idstone$ containing Fossil Wood. [no. 7, new series, 



portance such as the present is, unless he has fully and carefully 

 satisfied himself of its absolute certainty. A statement so distinct 

 as Mr. Schlagentweit's would never be questioned by any one, who 

 had never visited the locality referred to, and how much false rea- 

 soning it may give rise to, may be seen by perusing Mr. Schlagen- 

 tweit's own paper, wherein from the single observation at Trivica- 

 ry, the author rests his inference of the age of the great sandstone 

 and plant-bearing seiies of central India and Bengal. 



It is difficult to imagine what Mr. Schlagentweit could have been 

 thinking of that could lead him to make so positive a statement as 

 that quoted ; the cretaceous rocks, especially those of Pondicherry, 

 differ so markedly in appearance from the tree-bearing sandstones 

 that it is scarcely to be supposed that Mr. Schlagentweit mistook 

 any of the upper beds of the tree-bearing grits for cretaceous rocks, 

 and yet this seems the only possible explanation of the error, for 

 the contour of the ground, and the dip of the beds, so far as can 

 be made out, would rather point to a different conclusion. As Mr. 

 Schlagentweit has however promised a detailed account of his Geo- 

 logical observations in India, he may possibly be able to throw 

 some light on the cause of his mistake. 



Postscript. — The above paper was written in camp shortly 

 after the survey of the country of which it treats, and' where I had 

 but very few works of reference at hand. I was thus unaware of 

 a fact, which I have now great pleasure in acknowledging, viz., 

 that the true order of superposition of the Trivicary sandstones 

 with reference to the cretaceous rocks of Verdoor was fully known 

 to Captain Newbold, who published his notes respecting these 

 rocks in the Asiatic Society's Journal, Vol. XIV, and subsequently 

 in his paper on the Geology of India, published in Vol. IX of the 

 Calcutta Review, stated his views on this subject very clearly. I 

 deem myself fortunate that an accidental delay in the publication 

 of my paper has afforded me an opportunity of supplying a grave 

 omission, and of doing an act of justice to one of the most philoso- 

 phical and energetic of that noble band of investigators who have 

 been the voluntary pioneers of Science in India. 



