8 
[vOL. XII. 
Bccorch of the Geological Purvey of India. 
mai’kcd upper Gondwana strata. Soutli of the Jangaon valley the Karathis 
emerge again in force, encroaching upon the upper rocks up to Sironcha, where 
the latter are reduced to a width of six miles. Mr. Hughe.s carried his lines up 
to the Godavari and the Pranhita at Sironcha, recognizing no group between 
the Kota-Maleris and the Kamthis. Here he encountered Mr. King’s Sironcha 
sandstone, the lithological peculiarities of which he admits, considering it 
more like the rocks associated with the Maleri clay.s, than it is like the typical 
Kamthis (Rec. G. S. I., Voh XI, pi. 23). If, however, this rock, as mapped by 
Mr. King up to the GodavaVi from the south, is to bo taken in this light, or 
as a group distinct from both Maleris and Kamthis, or, as would appear on 
hir. Hughes’ map, in great part as a peculiar form of the upper Kamthis, 
a part of the ground mapped north of the Godavari will have to be modified 
accordingly. 
Jlr. King’s observations of last season are still conflicting as to which of tlicse 
views may irrove true. He finds the conglomeratic sandstone of Andram, with 
which the upper Gondwana fossils occur, to be local, and considers it more 
likely to be a local deposit, or a remnant of an overlying formation, than to belong 
to the underlying Sironcha sandstone. Again, he describes regular Sironcha 
sandstone as unconformably overlaid by the reptilian clays of the Agrezpali outlier, 
on the Goddvari, IG miles above Sironcha. Mr. Hughes thought these clays 
might be high in the Kota-Maleri group; but Mr. King does not adopt this sug¬ 
gestion, and considers them on the horizon of the beds at Maleri. Thus, these two 
observations are strongly suggestive of the Sironcha being lower Gondwdna, either 
as upper Kamthis, or as an independent group. 
On the other hand, Mr. King is in favour of a division of the Kota-Maleri 
group, as he finds that its upper portion only, at and above the horizon of the Kota 
limestone, is represented in the prolongation of that foi-mation south-east of the 
Pranhita, overlying, if not faulted against, the Sironcha sandstone. Such an 
overlap would be valid ground for reviving the original question of the probably 
mai’ked separation of the Lepidotus limestone and the Ceratodus clays. In this 
connexion Mr. Hughes’ partial identification of the Sironcha sandstone with that 
associated with the Maleri clay (Rec. G. S. I., Vol. XI, p. 23) is suggestive 
of the possibility that these two rocks are locally representatives of each other. 
In this case the views given in the preceding paragraph would reqirire modifi¬ 
cation : the search for the middle Gondwana horizon would have to bo taken 
up again, even in the Kota-Malcii area; involving the roinvestigation of the 
horizon of the plant beds in the Jangaon valley, as to whether they may not be 
in the upper division of the group, as is indeed suggested by the probable 
identification of the Chikiilla beds at Bahinpur. Mr. King holies to be able to 
revise, and decide upon, these crucial points during the present season. 
Early in the season Dr. Feistmantel visited the Siitpura coal-basin, to examine 
on the ground some good sections of the Gondwiina serie.s, the flora of which he 
has boon studying and describing so carefully, and with great advantage to the 
Survey. The coal-measures of those fields were always taken to represent 
Barakars, the lowest of the Damuda coal-measures ; and Dr. Feistmantel has shown 
