418 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 4, 
2. From the Under-Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign 
Department, papers containing the translation of a report (sent 
through the Government of Bombay) of a visit to the volcano of 
Jebhel Dubbeh by a Somali named Hussein Arraleh. 
3. From Babu Badha Nath Sikdar, abstracts of Meteorological 
Observations taken at the Surveyor General’s Office in May last. 
The Secretary read the two first papers. 
Mr. Blanford read an abstract of his paper on the Spiti fossils. 
Commencing by stating that the collection of fossils described in the 
paper had been collected in the year 1828, by Dr. Gerard, since 
which time they had lain undescribed in the Society’s Museum, Mr. 
Blanford proceeded to describe the portion of the fossiliferous rocks 
of the north flank of the Himalaya so far as it was known at present 
from the writings of M. Jaquemont and Col. Strachey. He noticed 
the discovery at the Niti Pass of fossils of the age of the Oxford clay 
by the latter, which fossils had been examined and pronounced upon 
by Professor Edward Forbes. M. Jaquemont had collected fossils also 
in the Spiti valley, but his collection still remained undescribed in 
the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. 
Dr. Gerard’s collection from Spiti consisted chiefly of Cephalopoda. 
There were also a few Gasteropoda and Conchifera and one Echinoderm. 
The indications of age presented by the collection were, that while 
the majority were closely allied to or identical with fossil^ of the upper 
Lias and inferior Oolite of Europe, a minority were equally character- 
istic of Triassic, middle and upper Oolitic faunas, and one specimen, an 
Echinoderm, appeared to belong to a genus characteristic of the chalk. 
The inference to be drawn from those was, that while beds of Liassic or 
inferior Oolitic age certainly existed at Spiti, it remained open to 
future observers who visited Spiti to decide whether the other fossils 
were really from distinct formations, or indicated the co-existence in 
Asiatic Seas of animals which in Europe lived at distant periods of 
time. A member of the Geological Survey, Mr. W. Theobald, junior, 
had lately visited Spiti, and it was to be hoped that his investigations 
might decide the above point. 
The thanks of the meeting were unanimously accorded to Mr. 
Blanford for his valuable paper. 
The Officiating Librarian submitted the usual monthly report. 
