366 
Remarks on Cancar. 
[Dec. 
cupies the banks and beds of nullas, and is seen forming small rounded swells and 
tumuli generally in lower situations. But it lias been found, also, on the tops of 
some of our lower ranges of hills, and in situations very considerably elevated 
above the level of the sea. The cancar beds are not, generally speaking, very thick ; 
in this respect, however, they vary much in different situations ; they include 
very frequently, numerous imbedded masses, both rounded and angular, of various 
kinds of rocks, from a granite down to limestone ; the last apparently of not 
a very ancient variety, and many of these imbedded masses must have been 
transported from a great distance. From an attentive consideration of these last, 
I conceive that many interesting conclusions might be drawn, relative both to the 
age of the formation, and to the agent which was employed in forming it. The 
cancar , as far at least as my information goes, has been seen overlying all the 
rocks as yet discovered in India ; but as the series appears to be the most recent of 
these, (the alluvial and diluvial deposit of course excepted,) we can only conclude 
from the above circumstance, that the cancar must be of more recent formation than 
the series. I have not heard of any well authenticated instances of organic remains 
having been found in cancar , at all events I can say that such an occurrence is rare; 
and, though we are thus deprived of the best means of determining its age, and 
of tracing an analogy between it and similar formations in other countries, still the 
very circumstance appears to me to be a proof of its antiquity, as compared with 
the more ancient diluvial deposits. I fear, also, that this consideration must set aside 
the opinion hinted at by your correspondent. I have frequently found in the allu- 
vium, resting immediately on the cancar, numerous shells belonging to recent genera, 
but none of these could be found in the cancar itself *, and had this substance been 
formed in the way your correspondent supposes, numerous shells must have 
been found associated with it. 
In examining this formation, care must he taken not to confound it with 
some more recent deposits of calc luff \ which are frequently met with in India, 
or with calcareous soils often containing imbedded portions of globular can- 
car. The formation in question must, from its nature, have been exceedingly 
liable to be affected by those great denuding causes which have been concern- 
ed on a large scale, in forming our diluvium, and which still continue to operate 
on a smaller scale, in forming our more recent soils. The details which y u 
have given us (in No. 6. of the Gleaniugs) of borings made in Calcutta, &c. 
prove the great depth at which such imbedded portions are found. From borings 
conducted on a similar plan the greatest information might be derived, and I sin- 
cerely trust that, ere long, we shall be put in possession of further details connected 
with this interesting subject, 
I observe in a note, page 220, of your periodical, the remark, “ That cancar 
has perhaps some analogy with the cormtnne of some of the English counties." 
I have not by me the vol. of Geological Transactions to which you refer, but 
if the corns tone he the same rock as the corn brash of tike Euglisli geologists, 
I confess that I perfectly concur in your remark. The absence in India of 
rocks of the oolitic series and others of the more recent suites of the super- 
medial order, has often been remarked by geological observers, and I have for 
some time been in the habit of considering the cancar formation as occupy- 
ing the place of one or other of the numerous series of subordinate formations 
included in the order just alluded to. From the absence of organic remains, 
I have not been enabled to form an opinion as to the precise period of its for- 
mation. The cornbrash is classed by Conybeare and Phillips with the inferior 
oolites, and in its structure, &e. many points of similitude may he traced between 
it and the cancar . There arc many other deposits, however, belonging to the ooli- 
tic series, with which this substance might be compared ; for instance, the numerous 
beds of an argillo-calcareous, calcareo- siliceous, Ac. nature which are found so 
abundantly associated with the English oolites; and while, from the very extensive 
distribution of the cancar formation, we must conclude that the cause which formed 
it must have been very general in its operation, it is at the same time very natural 
to suppose, that this cause under other, and probably more favorable circum>tances, 
might have formed rocks of a more distinct and tangible nature. Its whole appear- 
ance gives rise to the idea of its having been formed in a hasty and confused man- 
ner, but in it may probably be traced all the elements of the oolitic system of forma- 
tions. My principal object in addressing you at this time is to obtain, if possible, 
through the medium of the Gleanings, some information on this interesting subject; 
and to ascertain whether, or not, any organic remains have been discovered in the 
true cancar beds, and if so, to wliat genera they belong. 
