76 HAYDEN : GEOLOGY OF SPITI. 
In all sections the muschelkalk is overlain by a narrow band, 8 to I2 
inches thick, of rotten, splintery and shaly limestone which contains 
large numbers of Daonella, and contains also the Cephalopoda men- 
tioned above as occurring also in the underlying main mass of the 
upper muschelkalk. Immediately above this are the " Daonella shales," 
with D. lotnmeli. 
The lithological characters of this stage are constant throughout 
_ „ ,. Spiti ; it consists, as already stated, of two 
Daonella limestone. ... 
divisions, a lo\^er, in which shales predominate 
(the "Daonella shales"), and an upper composed of hard, dark 
limestone (the "Daonella limestone"). The latter is about 145 feet 
thick and contains few fossils, with the exception of Daonella lorn- 
melt, which is common throughout. 
Owing to these lithological characters, the middle trias of Spiti can 
usually be recognised at a glance, for the nodular limestone forms a low 
but steep cliff, followed by the less abrupt slopes of the muschelkalk, 
while the soft Daonella shales form a still gentler slope, capped by 
a sheer cliff, often two hundred feet or more in height, of the black 
Daonella limestone, with part of the overlying upper trias limestones. 
Upper Trias. 
It has been seen that the lower and middle trias of Spiti has yielded 
a large and representative fauna. Unfortunately the same cannot be 
said of the upper divisions of the system, our knowledge of which is 
much less complete. This is due to a large extent to paucity of fossils, 
but also to the fact that the uppermost beds of the trias consist of 
hard dolomitic limestones, forming steep, often vertical cliffs, in many 
sections quite inaccessible and in others accfssible only to the practised 
mountaineer. Nevertheless many of the horizons of the upper trias 
of Europec an be recognised and have yielded, locally, characteristic 
and well-preserved fossils. 
It was formerly supposed by Dr. von Mojsisovics and by Professor 
Diener, that the muschelkalk of the Himalayas was immediately over- 
lain by beds representing in part the carnic stage of Europe, but, as 
( 76 ) 
