I'AHT l.J 
AniiUdl llrporl for 1877. 
11 
past season a coiisiderable addition has boon inad6 to the i'ossils previously obtained, 
and amongst other forms teeth of Sanitherium, Anthraaotherimn, Ilyopotamus, 
Acerotheriuni, and Ampliicyon have been procured; all have been determined by- 
Mr. Lydekker. Several of these were found by' the native assistant, Hira Lai, who 
accompanied Mr. Blanford; others were obtained from native collectors. The 
specimens are rare and fragmentary', but sufficient has now been learned of the 
fauna to shew that it is older than the tyrpical fauna of the Siwaliks, and that it 
should be classed probably'- as Miocene. 
It has already been mentioned in a previous report that the typical Siwalik 
fauna has been principally^ derived from beds in the middle of the group. All 
the fossils hitherto procured from the Manchhar sti'ata of Sind are from close to 
the base, from the very' beds which pass into the Gaj group, already shewn to be 
probably of miocene age on indejiendent grounds. We have now found e-vidence 
of three later tertiaiy mammalian faunas in India ; (I) that of the lower Manchhar 
group and of some allied forms elsewhere; (2) the ty'pical Siwalik; and (.“I) the 
pleistocene Narbada fauna, other nitermcdiate formations having also been 
indicated. The Manchhar group has proved to comprise a great thickness of beds, 
probably' not less in places than 8,000 to 10,000 feet; only a few fragments of 
bones have been found in the higher portions of the group, which may very 
probably I’ejjresent the fossiliferous Siwalik rocks. 
The march to Sonmiani w'as undertaken in the hope of tracing a connexion 
between the Manchhar beds and the highly fossiliferous rocks of late tertiary 
age on the coast of Makran, but unfortunately the break between the beds of 
Sind and those of Makran appears to be greater than w-as supposed, the only 
formations seen between Cape Monze and Sonmiani consisting either of rocks 
certainly not of later date than eocene, or else of subrecent and alluvial deposits, 
whilst no appearance of the ilakran beds could be detected except at a consi¬ 
derable distance west of Sonmiani. 
Mr. Pedden has done a very good season’s work, and has made a large and 
valuable collection of organic remains in the present ana preceding ymars. He 
has now' been sent to Katty'w'ar to commence the survey of that province, his 
knowledge gained of the rocks in Cutch and Sind being a great advantage in 
studying the formations of the neighbouring peninsula of Guzerat. Since his 
return from .privilege leave Mr. Pedden has been most usefully engaged at head¬ 
quarters in making a preliminary arrangement of the extensive series of fossils 
from Sind. 
One of the native assistants attached to the Survey in 1874 w'as sent with Mr. 
Blanford and another with Mr. Pedden, principally as fossil collectors. The 
former, Hii-a Lai, although requiring much additional training, proved useful and 
ishewed great wdllirigness ; but the assistant who accompanied Mr. Pedden, Ram 
Sing, was found to be of very^ little service, and as there appeard no pi'ospcct of his 
ever giving any assistance of value, it -wus recommended that his probationary 
sei’-vice should terminate. He has since, by order of Government, been removed 
from the Survey. 
Mr. Blanford, since his return from the field in March, has been engaged in 
office work, and especially on the preparation of the geological manual. 
