TRIASSIC SYSTEM. 
63 
In 1 891, the Otoceras beds (Griesbach) were included by the late 
Dr. Waagen^ in the permian system, but were accepted as passage- 
beds and correlated with the Djulfa beds and with the Chideru and 
overlying unfossiliferous beds of the Salt Range ; in a subsequent 
paper,^ however, he placed them in the Scythian series of the triassic 
system. 
The beds between the top of the Productus shales and the horizon 
of Rhynchonella griesbachi were subsequently 
" Otoceras beds." ... 
divided by Diener^ into the " Otoceras beds 
and " Subrobustus beds," the former name being applied to the lower 
part of the series. Further detailed study of the numerous sections 
in Spiti has shown that the genus Otoceras is apparently confined to a 
narrow band of limestone, only a few inches in thickness, occurring at 
the base of the series, and the lower beds have been found by Dr. 
Noetlingin Nitiandby Dr. von Krafft in Spiti to contain three distinct 
zones, each characterised by the predominance of a single genus of 
ammonite. The two lower zones have been referred by Dr. Noetling 
to the permian system.* 
The three zones are, in descending order, — 
(3) Meekoceras zone — 
Thin, concretionary limestones, alternating with thin layers 
of shale, and containing large numbers of Meekoceras . 3 ft. 
The fossils include 
Meekoceras varaha, Diener. 
many new species. 
Proptychites ammonoides, Waagen. 
„ markhanti, Diener. 
Clypites n. sp. 
(2) Ophiceras zone — 
Grey limestone . . i ft. 5 ins. 
full of Ophiceras sakuntala, Diener, and containing also 
Meekoceras varaha, Diener. 
Pseudomonotis griesbachi, Bittner. 
(la) Brown, sandy limestone, apparently unfossiliferous . i ft 7 ins. 
' Pal. Indica, ser. XIII, vol. IV, pt. 2, Table of Strata, opp. p. 238. 
' Sitzungsber. d. k. Akad. Wien, CIV, pt i, 1895, pp. 1278 sqq. 
« Denkschrift der k. Akad. Wien, Bd. LXII, 1895, pp. 533—608. 
* Neues Jahrbuch fur Min., etc., XIV, 1901, p. 467. 
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