Remarks on Cancar. 
365 
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were drained from tlie plains of Hindustan. The fresh appearance of the epidermis, 
and ligaments, although I have never met with the living animals enclosed in the 
shells, shewed that they must have died recently, and forbid the notion that they 
could have lain even a single month exposed to the. decomposing action of the ele- 
ments, which in this country act with such force and expeditiou, reducing the 
strongest shells in a short space of time to a friable mass. Yet the tank in which 
these shells occur, while the rains prevail, is dry during the greatest part of the year. 
In concluding this notice on extraordinary localities of animals, it may not be 
out of place to mention, that on the summit of the fortified hill of Callinjer, inac- 
cessible on all sides to animals unadapted for climbing, the tanks excavated in the 
sandstone rock swarm with tortoises, one of which belonging to the genus Trionyx, 
(comprising the soft fresh-water turtles,) has been sent to me for examination. I find 
on reference to the sketches and descriptions which I made some years ago, of the 
Jumna turtles, that it agrees with the characters of the species called Goomeree by 
the natives, which is one of several species of Trionyx which occur in the Jumna. 
It was also recognized as the same by the servant who procured me my former 
specimens. 
Unlike the genus Emys, the Trionyx is not in the habit of venturing to any distance 
from the water, hut suns itself on its margin on insulated ledges of sand, and it is 
by no means calculated by its structure for such excursions. I can only suppose that, 
from its kindred having a place in the Hindu mythology, the breed has been con- 
veyed to the spot by the Brahmins, who, in former times, had charge of the temples 
on the hill. One of the tanks is accounted so holy, that, as I am informed by the 
gentleman who had the kindness to procure for me the specimen I now possess, the 
natives refused to take a tortoise from it, alleging, as a reason, that the person who 
should violate its sanctity by such a deed, would shortly he punished by death for 
his temerity; hut that should one be caught out of the water, no danger to the cap- 
tor was to be apprehended. W. H. B. 
In No. 8 of the Gleanings there occurs a short notice on the “ production of 
cancar ” which I do not exactly understand. Is the “ nodularsubstance” alluded to 
the work of the “ shell-fish ?” and do these shell-fish belong to flnviatilc or marine 
varieties ? or do thev, as I should infer from the notice, inhabit indifferently both 
the salt and fresh waters ? to what genera do they belong? how are they attached to 
the “ nodularsubstance,” or rather to the “ minute cellular coating of shell-work, 
which" surrounds the nucleus of iron clay," by a byssus, or how?— or are they simple 
adhering univalves ? And with regard to the nucleus itself, I am still further at a loss 
to understand its nature, or Amu it got there. It seems to differ in its character from 
any substance with which I am acquainted. It ‘ becomes softer and loses its shelly 
coating during the dry months, when the waters become salt, and, when burned 
it crumbles on exposure to the air, but again becomes hard or. immersion in water, 
(fresh water I presume) The notice is certainly an interesting one, and I trust, I 
should he excused if, in submitting these queries, I express a hope that cither your 
correspondent or some one else will afford the information desired, without which 
the value of the notice, as a contribution to science, is greatly lessened. 
The question, however, to which your correspondent directs the attention of 
your readers is a most interesting one. Whence have been derived those widely dis- 
tributed beds of cancar, which while they form a most perplexing, arc at the same time 
a most distinguished feature of Indian geology? Your correspondent justly remarks, 
that it is “ difficult to conceive that a substance of such general occurrence and uni- 
form appearance Can be the detritus of any stratum of limestone of prior exist- 
ence to it. In short, the cancar must he considered as a distinct and separate 
rock formation, to which the name of cancar formation may be applied, till such 
time as we can discover its real place in the geological scale of rocks. 
I do not mean to trouble you with a description of the different varieties of 
cancar, (and there are many,)bnt rather to offer one or two very general remarks re- 
lating to its natural history, more with the view of receiving information from some 
of your able correspondents, than with the hope of myself being able to impart any. 
Cancar, as before stated, is very extensively distributed throughout Hmdostan, 
and is a substance with which all your readers are familiar, it very generally oc- 
V. Remarks on Cancar. 
To the Editor of the Gleanings in Science. 
